


Written

by Spooks, thesuninside



Category: GetBackers
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-16 23:28:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3506708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spooks/pseuds/Spooks, https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesuninside/pseuds/thesuninside
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People whose lives are influenced by the stars are being hunted for their special abilities, and so Ban is on someone's murder list.  Just not for the usual reasons.</p><p>Written in 2004 before the end of the manga series, so probably entirely inaccurate to cannon.  Posted by request, with permission from the co-writer.  (Edited: To add said co-writer, now that she's got her AO3 account and I uh, know about it.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Posted here by request, written sometime in 2004. As noted in the summary, entirely inaccurate to cannon I'm sure. The co-writer, Clarus, was fine with me posting it here. Also, the formatting between paragraphs is a little wonky, and I have no idea why.

**Chapter One**

 

Maybe it was overdue karma from the Mugenjou and Brain Trust incident, maybe it was the law of averages catching up with them, or maybe it was that failed job that had taken them to a shrine.  Ginji had rang the bells and clapped.  Didn’t matter what made it happen, it just mattered that it had.  They’d gotten a job.  An easy one that had paid in full. 

 

Ban paid Paul what they could afford, and then told Ginji he was going for a drive.  He’d be back tomorrow.  Of course, when Ginji hopped in the car with him, Ban didn’t say a word.  He was maybe just a little glad to have the company, though he’d never admit it. 

 

With the traffic, getting out of Tokyo took almost as long as the drive up the coast.  Ginji listened to pop and bopped a little in his seat.  He sang quietly, sometimes with hand motions. 

 

Ban tuned him out, for the most part.  He was thinking about stars.  His grandmother and Maria and the little book of constellations they’d given him.  He could see Orion if he looked up, through the top of the windshield when the road curved just right.

 

_He could smell burning candles, perfume, and snow.  His grandmother’s voice, her fingernail tracing the lines in that book, the lines that defined the stars and showed Ban what the Greeks had imagined.  In the memory, his feet were cold.   “Orion was a great hunter.  He boasted that he could defeat any beast that lived.  To punish him for his pride, the gods sent a single scorpion to sting him in the heel, and kill him.  After he died, Zeus put his body in the sky, so that he would be remembered, for he was a powerful man._

_“That is not where his story ends.”_

 

“Ban-chan, can we get some candy?”

 

Ban blinked.  He glanced at Ginji.  “Huh?”

 

“Candyyyy.”  Ginji smiled.  “You were day-dreaming, weren’t you, Ban-chan?  Or is it twilight-dreaming, ‘cause it’s twilight not daytime.”

 

“Something like that,” Ban shifted in the seat, pressed the gas a little harder.  “Why do you want candy?  Are you hungry?”

 

“Mmm a liiiiittle.”

 

“There’s something in the back seat--chips or something, eat that.”

 

“But I’m hungry for candy, Ban-chaaaaan!” 

 

Ban sighed.  There was a gas station coming up, Ban could see the sign.  He didn’t give Ginji an answer, just pulled in.  “Okay, go get your candy.”

 

“Eeee!”  Ginji burst out of the car--burst was the only word for it, really--and bounced into the store.  Ban cut the engine and got out.  He got his cigs out and tapped the pack.  He didn’t know why he did that.  Yamato had done it, and Ban had learned smoking from Yamato, so. 

 

Flash of fire as he lit the cig.  He still had Yamato’s lighter, but he used his own.  He inhaled deeply, drawing it hot into his lungs, and held it . . . then exhaled.  He looked up at the sky.  It was more night than twilight by now, and Taurus was rising.  The smoke drifted upwards and grew faint, and Taurus became clearer.

 

_“Did Orion kill the bull?”_

_“No, the bull is from another story.”_

_“What story?”_

_“It doesn’t matter right now . . . those eyes won’t work on me, boy.”  A pause as she puffed on her pipe.  “All right, fine.  But you won’t understand.”_

He’d listened, but he really hadn’t understood for about another seven years, when he was thirteen.  Even then, it had taken a little while longer to really get all the innuendo in the Taurus story. 

 

A car passed; the purr of its engine drew Ban’s attention.  It was black and very sleek, and Ban envied the driver momentarily.  The car disappeared around a curve as Ginji left the store.  He had a small paper bag tucked under one arm and was already chewing on something.  Ban slid his lighter into his pocket and tapped ash off the end of his cigarette. 

 

“Ready to go?”  Ban was already opening his door.

 

“Yep!”  Ginji bounded around the car and got in, the mass of his purchases in his lap.

 

Ban started the 360 and pulled onto the road.  He cracked the window and continued to smoke. 

 

“Neeeeee, Ban-chan.  Where are we going?”

 

Ban tapped the end of his cig out the window, letting the night take the ash.  “Toge-zaki Point.”

 

“Where’s that?”  This was said around a mouthful of something that probably contained too much sugar.

 

“Up near Kitakamimachi, on the ocean.”

 

There was a moment of silence from Ginji, then, “ . . .We’re going to the beach?!”Ginji was practically vibrating. 

 

“Yeah,” Ban said.  He ground the cig out in the tray and closed it.  “Kinda.  But we’re not going there to swim.”

 

“Awwwwww.”  Ginji was only subdued for a moment.  “But it’s still the beach!  We can still sit on the beach!”  Ginji bounced again.  “Why are we going to the beach, Ban-chan?”

 

“’Cause I wanna look at something, and it’s dark enough there.”

 

“Ohhhh.”  Ginji smiled hugely.  “I got some almond pocky for you, Ban-chan.”

 

Ban loved almond pocky.  He took the box from Ginji and ate one-handed, and blustered appropriately when Ginji stole a stick.

 

A couple of hours later, Ginji was asleep.  Ban watched the road and the darkness; they had left the city behind them, and were speeding towards the coast, towards the edge of the island. 

 

Above them, Scorpio glittered. 

 

_“After Orion was placed in the heavens, the scorpion was placed here--close enough to remind Orion of his pride, but far enough away so they couldn’t fight anymore. Who killed the scorpion? Asclepius, boy. He stepped on its head and crushed it.”_

Not all the constellations were important to his grandmother, or to him; just the ones that surrounded his own constellation, or whose story intersected with his, those in the sky at the same times.  As Ban drove, he remembered their stories and the telling of them.  His grandmother told him the truth; the book lied, and they didn’t even mention Ophiuchus.

 

Some time after they’d left the lights and all the other traffic behind, Ban pulled onto the side of the road.  He cut the engine and listened to Ginji breathe for a moment before shaking him a little. 

 

“Mmnn?”

 

“We’re here.”

 

“The Beach!  Ban-chan!”  Ginji sat straight up and looked around.  “Oh.  Where’s the beach, Ban-chan?”

 

“About half a kilometer that way.”  Ban gestured through the windshield.  There was sloping ground in front of them, stretching down and to the cliff.  Thick gatherings of trees grouped in bundles along the land, but they stopped long before the ground did, leaving a space between wood, cliff, sky above and ocean below.   

 

Ban grabbed his cigarettes and opened the door.  Ginji threw open his own door in a burst of movement.  Once out, Ginji threw his head back and breathed deeply.  “It smells like _trees_.”

 

Ban watched Ginji for a moment, then said, “That’s because there’s trees.  Come on.”

 

Ban stepped over the safety railing and started towards the cliff.  Ginji caught up to him and walked so close their elbows bumped.  It made Ban a little warmer.

 

A few seconds after stepping past the tree line, a motorcycle buzzed past, not terribly fast.  For one horrible moment Ban thought about how bad it would be to come back to the 360 with a ticket on the windshield.  But the motorcycle kept going.  Passing concern.

 

They walked in silence after that, the sound of water against rocks below the edge becoming a calm roar.  The trees thinned, grew smaller and a bit twisted, then were completely gone.  They stepped onto the bare rock of the cliff, the smell of salt and water strong. Ban spotted a large rock and sat.  Ginji bounced around a few times, then sat beside him.  Ginji hummed quietly. 

 

After his first cigarette was gone, Ban’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness.  It was time.  He looked up at the sky and there . . .

 

There he was.

 

Ban smiled a little.  He leaned over, behind Ginji, and lifted his arm.  He stretched their arms out together and guided Ginji’s hand, finger extended to point, with his own.  “See that?  That’s Orion.”

 

“Oo.”

 

“Orion was a hunter in Greece.  He was a gift from the gods to a pious village, and he prospered and did many great works during his life.  But he was proud.  In his pride he boasted that he could defeat any animal living.  Because of this, the gods sent a single scorpion.  It stung his heel, and he died.” 

 

Ginji made a noise that was almost sad as Ban guided Ginji’s finger over Scorpio.  He shifted a little to lean against Ban.

 

“Orion was such an amazing man, that the gods set his soul into the sky, and he is always remembered.  But that isn’t the end of his story.  After he died, the great physician Asclepius came across his body.  Asclepius had been taught by a serpent all the great secrets of healing, tricks even Chiron didn’t know, and Asclepius healed Orion, and brought him back to life.”

 

“He sounds like a nice guy, Ban-chan,” Ginji said quietly, a comment he made more to show he was listening than anything else. 

 

“Anyway, Asclepius had healed so many people that there weren’t enough souls going to the underworld anymore.  So Hades talked to his brother, Zeus, and said that if Asclepius were allowed to continue in his studies, and become a better healer, one day he’d discover the secrets of immortality.  That couldn’t be allowed, of course.  Only the gods were allowed to be immortal.  So they killed Asclepius .” 

 

Actually, Zeus killed him with a lightning bolt.  Ban tightened his hand over Ginji’s.  Ginji didn’t need to hear that, considering what Asclepius became.

 

“But Zeus couldn’t ignore all the good works Asclepius had done, so they put him in the sky, too,” Ban guided Ginji’s finger along the constellation.  “And humans renamed him ‘Ophiuchus,’ which means ‘serpent handler.’” 

 

Ginji exhaled slowly.  “It’s a good story, Ban-chan.”

 

Ban lowered Ginji’s arm, guided it to wrap around Ginji’s middle without letting go of it.  Ginji was so warm.

 

“Ophiuchus.  That constellation.  That’s my constellation.  That’s where the power comes from.”  Barely a whisper over the waves below. 

 

Ginji turned to look at him.  “Ban-chan.”

 

Ginji’s eyes were very dark right now.  Ginji could always look in Ban’s eyes without fear or hesitation; Ban didn’t take that trust for granted.

 

“Anyway.”  Ban looked away, back up at the sky. 

 

Ginji wasn’t so quick to look away, though, but then a firefly blinked in front of them.  With a little laugh, he reached out to cup the bug in both hands, but missed.  Ban rolled his eyes and snorted lightly. 

 

“Did you see the bug?  It lit up,” Ginji might as well have been lighting up himself, actually.

 

“I saw, I saw.  Probably more out here, if there’s the one.  They light up to find a mate.”

 

“Aw, I hope he,” Ginji pointed at the reappearing firefly, now further along the cliff edge to their right, “Finds one.  Because then there’ll be little bright baby bugs and that’ll be good.”

 

Over the crash of the waves below, a muffled sort of punching sound reached them.  Less than a heartbeat later and Ban’s hand flew up to the back of his neck.  “What the f---“

 

And then he went limp, eyes glazing over and head lolling to the side. 

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

Ginji yelped quietly and felt his mind settle into the situation.  Ban-chan was breathing, and couldn’t take care of himself like this, so Ginji would have to do it.  That was okay.  He could definitely do that.  Ginji pulled Ban-chan off the rock they’d been sitting on and to the ground, so that the rock was between the trees and themselves.  There was a tranquilizer dart sticking out of the back of Ban-chan’s neck, bright yellow feathery tip being blown a little in the breeze.

 

That came out right away, and Ginji pressed his fingertips over the little puncture.  Someone must have had time to aim, and that meant they had been listening.  Why hadn’t they shot him first?

 

Then the night echoed with the sound of a gunshot, and something thunked into the other side of the rock.

 

Oh, because they were shooting at him _now_.  They’d knocked out Ban-chan and were trying to kill him while Ban-chan was unconscious.  But what if they missed and hit Ban-chan with a bullet instead?  That couldn’t be allowed to happen.  He scooted Ban-chan into a sort of ball and as behind the rock as Ginji could get him.  Another shot chipped along the top of the rock, and as soon as it did Ginji was up and running, sending a bright bolt of electricity out to his left, hoping that would distract whoever it was.

 

The sound of a pained cry and a clattering noise almost made him pause.  Good thing he didn’t, because another gunshot roared, and he could swear he felt the wind from the bullet pass through where he’d been when he’d sent off the bolt.  Then he was in the trees, and the moon and starlight couldn’t help him see anymore. 

 

Trying to be quiet, Ginji ducked down as best he could.  His shirt suddenly seemed too white for its own good, so he tried pulling his vest closed as best he could without moving too much.  Open-mouthed breathing and trying to be so very quiet, though he felt like he’s being loud.  Or maybe the gunshots made everything seem louder?

 

Ginji waited, counting heartbeats, waiting for whoever it was to move or to shoot.  Hopefully not hit. 

 

Just as he had that thought, a shadow flared to his right, deep in the shadows---

 

 

His shoulder was bleeding.  Shot.  He’d just been shot.  Well, grazed actually, it just felt like a chunk of flesh had been blown off or something.

 

No time to worry about that!  While he had the chance and he had a spot to aim at, Ginji concentrated and sent a bright, hot burst of lightning right at where the shot had come from.  It caught the metal of the gun even as the assassin was trying to dodge behind a tree. 

 

 

The wind carried the scent of singed hair and the sound of labored breathing.  Ginji immediately ran up closer to check--oh good, not going to die.  Rolling the person onto his (her?) back, he felt something--a radio headset, small batteries inside still humming from being on probably ten minutes ago.  That meant at least one more person had another radio.  So at least one more to watch out for. 

 

While he pulled off the assassin’s mask to get a good look at the man, Ginji thumbed the little switch on the radio and heard a soft crackle.  A deep voice in some other language spoke almost immediately.  Sounded like English, maybe?  Ginji wasn’t sure, so he just switched the radio off again and laid down the headset.  Then he noticed his hand was wet.  Bloody.

 

Oh yeah.  Blinking remembrance.  He’d been shot.  His shoulder still hurt, but the adrenaline had blanked out the pain.  Should do something about that, he figured.  Well it wasn’t bleeding too badly, so maybe he could just ignore it and let his shirt cake up with the blood and dry to the wound?  That would work for a little while, at least until he could get himself and Ban-chan to a safer place.  

 

Had to protect Ban-chan.  It just wasn’t fair to shoot someone in the back of the neck with some sort of weird drug.

 

Ginji hurried back to where he’d left Ban-chan, and of course, he was still there, and hadn’t moved at all, it seemed.  First he sat Ban-chan up against the rock, then he settled and lifted Ban-chan up and over his not-hurt shoulder.  Without wasting any more time, he jogged back to the 360, nearly tripping over a fallen pair of night vision goggles on the way.  He really hoped that whoever was on the other end of the assassin’s radio wasn’t sneaking up on them. 

 

Jiggling the keys out of Ban-chan’s pant’s pocket, Ginji very carefully slid Ban-chan into the passenger seat and kind of laid him sort of sideways, then ran around to the driver’s side.  It couldn’t be that hard, right?  Once Ban-chan had given him the basic run-down of how to drive, just in case, and occasionally he’d refreshed those lessons.  Ginji had never actually driven before, but he could get the car started, and they were on the top part of a hill, so if all else failed they could coast.

 

But the car wouldn’t start. 

 

Biting his lower lip, Ginji tried again.  Nothing.  He was about to try again when he heard the roar of an engine approaching.  Either he could keep trying and risk being caught here, or he could get Ban-chan and move, hide somewhere, and maybe use his cell phone to call for help.  The second idea felt best. 

 

Ginji got out of the 360 and hurried around and gathered Ban-chan up again, then ran as fast as he could down the road, heading towards the sound of the engine.  Then he veered off into the trees and hunkered down, about fifty meters away.  Just in time. 

 

The car, black and sleek, zoomed over the crest of the hill and came to a halt right behind the 360.  Four doors on the car, and the back doors opened and two people stepped out, flashlights on and shining about, searching.  Ginji started creeping, still carrying Ban-chan---and getting some blood on him, oops---farther away.  The people who’d gotten out started going the other direction, probably into the trees to find the guy he’d shocked.

 

Sure enough, barely a minute or so later, they were carrying the man back to the car and shoving him inside.  Ginji stilled again, watching to see what they’d do next.

 

They got into the car . . . and then drove away.

 

 

That was good!

 

Ginji sat Ban-chan on the ground and held him up so he wouldn’t flop onto the ground or anything, then sat down and leaned Ban-chan’s back against his own side, the one not gooey with blood from his shoulder.  At least the bleeding was slowing down now.  He should probably---idea!  He took off his vest and balled it up, then scooted closer to a tree, pulling Ban-chan along as well.  Then he put his ball of vest against his shoulder, and leaned sideways so that the tree was holding it over the wound. 

 

That done, Ginji---realized his phone was somewhere in the balled up vest.  Oops.  Well, Ban-chan had one in his pants pocket.  So Ginji fished it out and oh--Ban-chan had voicemail--well, Ban-chan will listen to it later. 

 

Ginji stared at the little phone screen for a brief, blank moment.  He had no idea where he was!  That wasn’t good.  Well, maybe whoever he called could help with that.  Ginji started flipping through Ban-chan’s digital phonebook thing--they had the same type of phone, it had been a one yen deal for a phone as long as they’d signed up for a contract thing.  So Ginji knew how to use Ban-chan’s phone but didn’t know who he should call.

 

Who had a car?

 

 

Ginji decided to call Hevn, and pressed the right button to dial her.  He had no idea if she had a car or not but she’d be able to do something or call someone else or help, right?  Right! 

 

“Hevn.”  It was Hevn’s business-flirty-voice.

 

“Hi, Hevn!”

 

“Hello, Ginji!  Are you calling me looking for a job?  Although it is a bit late to be setting up business---“

 

“Nooo, Hevn, it’s not business---“

 

“Then what is it?”  That was a little scary.  Light throat clearing.  “I’m a little busy, Ginji.”

 

“I’m sorry!  Ban-chan is unconscious someone shot him with a thingy in the back of the neck and then they did something to the 360 though we’re at the top of a hill oh! I don’t know where we are!”  Was there something else?  “Oh, and I got shot,” but that wasn’t as important as all the other stuff.

 

For about five seconds, all Ginji could hear was some sort of music and random background noise over the phone line.

 

Hevn cleared her throat.  “Ginji.  You’ve been shot.  Ban is unconscious.  You don’t know where you are.  Your car isn’t working.  Is that right?”

 

Ginji nodded, then stopped when he realized he was on the phone.  He did that sometimes.  But so did Ban-chan, he just coughed and pretended he didn’t when Ginji would laugh.  “That’s right!”

 

“Where are you right now?”

 

“Um, I don’t know,” Didn’t he already say that?

 

“I _meant_ , are you in the car?  Side of the road?  That sort of thing.”

 

“Oh.  I’m in a bunch of trees a little away from the 360.  See the person who hurt Ban-chan had friends and they came and picked him up after I zapped him.  I hid me and Ban-chan when they did that.”

 

Hevn sounded like she was covering the receiver for a moment.  “Listen, Ginji, you need to be careful--"

 

“I know!”

 

“Ahem.  There have been a couple of people in town asking around about Ban.  I’d heard it about a few hours ago from one of my contacts.  There should be a voicemail on his phone about that.  Hm,” Hevn paused.  “You don’t sound like you’re bleeding to death.”

 

“I’m not!  It’s just a big scratch.  I’m worried about Ban-chan, though, he’s still out,” Ginji shifted him a little to sort of lay down a bit, but kept Ban-chan’s upper body more or less in his lap.  He could be a Ginji-pillow.

 

“All right.  You said the car was at the top of a hill, right?”  
  
 

“Right!”

 

“Are you sure you’ll be okay to go back to it?  Where were you shot, anyway?” She sounded like she was almost scolding him. 

 

“My shoulder.  I’m okay, just a bit dizzy---"

 

“Ginji, just stay right where you are, then.  Does the phone you’re on have a GPS on it?”

 

“Yes!  But Ban-chan said that I shouldn’t turn that on, because it costs a lot, so I don’t.”  
  
"I think he’d understand, don’t you?”

 

“Probably . . . "

 

“Ginji?”

 

“Yes, Hevn?”

 

“Have you turned it on yet?”

 

“Oops!  Hold on,” Ginji examined the phone, and after a few tries was pretty sure he’d gotten it to work.  “What are you going to do?”  
  
 

“I’m going to see to it that you’re picked up, of course,” Hevn’s voice reminded him of coffee.  All warm and flowy but with a kind of annoyed tang.

 

“Thank you!  I’m sorry but I couldn’t think of anyone with a car and I’m worried about Ba---"

 

“Ginji?”

 

"Yes, Hevn?”

 

“I’m going to hang up now and come get you.”

 

“Okay.”

 

 

Ginji watched a lightning bug land on his knee.  Oh well, at least he and Ban-chan weren’t all by themselves, and Hevn---Did she really mean she was coming or did she mean she was calling someone---oh and what if she made them pay for it?  She wouldn’t do that, right?---Well.  Never mind!  Someone was coming for them, and then Ban-chan would wake up, and things would be fine.

 

He waited. It was like forever, with just his worry and the lightning bug and then the mosquitoes--those were not nice--for company, and poor Ban-chan.   Later, dew started to settle on Ban-chan’s arms, and that wasn’t nice, either.  Ginji bet it was cold, so he pulled Ban-chan closer and held him and thought warm thoughts.  His shoulder ached but it would be okay soon.  He sat still for a really long time, just holding Ban-chan and holding his shoulder against the tree. 

 

Maybe Ginji was just being silly--or maybe the sky was getting lighter.  Was it?  If it was really light and the people who had hurt Ban-chan came back, then it would be harder to hide.  Ginji thought that if it got much lighter, he’d take Ban-chan deeper into the trees.  The phone said it was 5:28.  It seemed like Ban-chan had been unconscious forever, and Ginji was beginning to worry more than a little.

 

Not a minute later, Ginji realized he could hear a car.  It wasn’t zooming along--it sounded slow . . . like it was looking for somebody?  Maybe it was Hevn.  That would be really good.  He ducked a little lower and covered Ban-chan--Ban-chan’s glasses were still on his face, that was good, Ban-chan loved his glasses--with his own body and watched the road.  He lay very still, thinking “we’re invisible” thoughts about himself and Ban-chan, until he heard the car stop.  Then he peaked up a bit and--

 

Hevn! 

 

And Paul?

  

They were out of the car, and walking back towards him.  Hevn jiggled.  Ginji sat up straighter and waved at them.  They were _here_ and now Ban-chan would be taken care of and they could get warm and stuff and oh, Ginji’s shoulder could probably get a bandage, too! 

 

Things were okay.


	2. 2

**Chapter Two**

Consciousness came back slowly, an index of little aches and senses.

 

Movement, something soft under his cheek, and he was lying down. His neck hurt and his head hurt and he desperately wanted water. It took a moment to realize that the soft thing under his cheek was skin, and he opened one eye to look. A bare knee was only inches from his eyes, and it was a little dirty, but otherwise a very familiar, and very welcome sight. He took a moment to gather himself. He was in the backseat of a car he should have recognized, laying with his head in Ginji’s lap.

 

Why was his head in Ginji’s lap?

 

This struck him as a very good question, and he sat up. He was careful to not put an elbow in Ginji’s thigh or stomach as he did so. Ah--he could see blonde hair and hands on the steering wheel. Hevn. Hevn’s car. And that mop of hair under the bandana was Paul.

 

“Ban-chan!”

 

Ban blinked and turned his head. There was Ginji, who was beaming at him and it looked like any second now, he was going to be hugged. Ban blinked again. “There’s blood on your shirt.”

 

Ginji smiled. “Yeah, but it’s okay! Did you know Paul knows first aid? I didn’t.”

 

Ban rubbed his temples. “Wait, wait. Ginji. Why did Paul need to know first aid?”

 

“Oh! I was shot!”

 

Shot? It got very quiet in Ban’s head for a minute. Ginji was obviously fine, sitting there and talking to him, so he remained calm. “What happened?”

 

“Well one minute we were looking at the stars and then the next minute there was this noise, then _whump_! You were unconscious so I hid you behind the rock and then I zapped somebody and then I hid and there was another noise and my shoulder hurt so I zapped somebody again and then he was unconscious and so were you and the car wouldn’t start so I hid us in the woods when the other car came and then I called Hevn on your cell phone and oh yeah you have voice mail.”

 

Ban blinked several times, and his temple throbbed sharply. He closed his eyes. “I need some aspirin.”

 

“Here.” Ban heard rattling pills, so he opened his eyes and took them and a bottle of water from Paul. He swallowed three aspirin and most of the water. He rubbed the back of his neck. First thing’s first . . .

 

He drank the rest of the water. He’d wait for the medicine to dissolve a bit before he tried to get details out of Ginji. Ban got his cell phone back and immediately noticed the small blinking light on it. “You turned the GPS on?!”

 

“I told him to, Ban. He didn’t know where you were.” Hevn’s eyes met his in the mirror.

 

“Do you know how much GPS costs?!”

 

“Don’t you think it was necessary, given that Ginji didn’t know where he was, you were unconscious, and he was shot?”

 

It was. He knew it was. But the cost was going to eat up what they had left from the job. It really wasn’t fair. But he shut up, pressed a couple of buttons, and put the phone to his ear.   A robotic, recorded voice said, “Message one.” A click. Hevn’s smooth voice. “Ban, someone’s been asking around for you. I don’t know who or why. Be careful.”

 

_Thanks for the warning_. He supposed it wouldn’t be smart to say that, though. Hevn did drive out to the middle of nowhere to pick them up, after all. On to message two.

 

“Ban.”

 

Ban’s eyes widened a little, and he became the smallest bit tense.

 

“Call me immediately. You are in danger.” Then a click. Ban blinked, and deleted the message. He stared at the phone for a minute, and made up his mind.

 

“Pull over, Hevn.”

 

|<>|

 

Of course, he couldn’t make this call where anybody could hear him. He walked some distance from the car, made Ginji stay with Hevn and Paul. He lit the cig and took a drag--it did wonders for his headache--before he dialed the number. He wondered what time it was in Germany. He couldn’t recall the conversion.

 

Someone answered in German, and he replied. He was asked to hold. A moment later, there was a click, and his grandmother picked up. “You don’t call enough.”

 

“I just got the message,” Ban told her.

 

“Hmph.” There was a bit of background noise, like a shutting door. “You’re in danger.”

 

“Yeah, I got that part. What’s going on?”

 

“Don’t take that tone with me, young man. There’s someone out to kill you. I don’t know who it is, only that they have connections and money and power.”

 

Ban exhaled. People tried to kill him all the time. Akabane, Fudo, Miroku, Himiko. He was no stranger to people wanting his head. He was a stranger to being shot in the neck with a drug and knocked out. That was _definitely_ a first. “Anything else?”

 

A pause, nothing but her breathing on the line. He wondered if she still smoked that pipe, if the phone would smell like that peculiar smoke after she’d hung up. “Do not take this lightly.” Her voice was rough, like any old woman’s, and she wasn’t used to being questioned.

 

“I won’t.”

 

“Good.” It sounded like she wanted to say something else, so Ban quickly put a stop to that.

 

“I gotta go. This is expensive.”

 

“You should call more--“

 

“Bye, Gramma.” He pressed the button to disconnect them and slid the phone back in his pocket. He hadn’t talked to her in years, and he was surprised at how easy that conversation had been for him. He flicked the butt of the cigarette to the pavement and returned to the car.

 

Ginji was giving him a look he’d only recently learned to decipher. It only lasted a second, but it was a loaded second. The look that meant, “You’re keeping secrets from me, Ban-chan, I wish you’d tell me what it is, we’re partners, Ban-chan. S.” Ban pretended to not notice it. He had to think.

 

If his grandmother knew about a threat to him, that meant it was from Europe. Or maybe it didn’t. He rubbed the back of his neck as Hevn pulled into traffic again, and thought about things. After his headache had subsided, he began getting details from Ginji. Ginji was brave to a fault but not always the most cautious, but he had kept himself and Ban safe last night, so there wasn’t much room for Ban to complain.

 

There happened to be a small restaurant by the place that had towed and was subsequently going to fix the 360. Ban wasn’t hungry for once; his mind was too occupied to worry about food, so he gave some money to Ginji and smoked while Ginji, Paul, and Hevn ate. Ban looked out the window and resisted the temptation to lean his head against the glass.

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

They’d found his name easily enough, found his business contacts, followed them. Now here they were, just outside the restaurant, and he could see the boy in the window.

 

His name was John Archer (he’d laughed when he’d been told the story, at the irony in his name). He was still suffering from jet lag, and it was almost enough to make him sleep, but not quite. Besides, he couldn’t sleep yet. He didn’t know how Vega was doing it, and didn’t care as long as she kept herself together.

 

The translator turned and asked why they weren’t going inside. He spoke in heavily accented English, but Archer could understand him well enough.

 

“I’m finishing my cigarette,” he said. He took a slow drag and tapped about a centimeter of ash off the end. They had decided not to explain anything to the translator unless they had to.

 

“You’re taking too long.” Vega’s accent wasn’t any better, though he knew she could speak English flawlessly if she chose. She refrained from doing so to make his life more difficult. “We should just go in. Do it my way.”

 

 

“Or we could not,” he said, and ground his cigarette into the ashtray. “Anyway. Let’s go get some breakfast.” It was a shame, he thought, that the Japanese didn’t know the value of a really good bacon and egg breakfast. He was sick of noodles and fish. He wanted beef, a big slab of it, medium rare and bloody . . .

 

He followed Vega into the restaurant, and there was that peculiar and entirely foreign food-smell. The translator was a step behind him, not a place Archer liked anyone to be. They sat in a booth near the boy’s.

 

They stood out, of course, but not like the group in the other booth. Two blondes, a redhead, and Midou’s eyes? He wondered how that kid managed to hide anywhere, with those eyes. Well, he couldn’t hide anymore, could he?

 

Vega reached into her pocket. She was wearing thin gloves and a long-sleeved shirt, with dark sunglasses. She kept a kerchief in her pocket, and she wiped the sweat from her neck and forehead with it periodically. It was very hot, and the Japanese didn’t believe very much in air conditioning, at least from what Archer had seen. The heat did nothing to improve Vega’s temper.

 

“Excuse me, Mr. Ahchah.” Archer looked at the translator, Arizumi Something-Or-Other. Archer found it irritating, the reverse naming system. This was residual from his youth, when a name _faux pas_ had cost him a bit of his reputation. “What you want to eat, sir?”

 

“Nothing.” The waitress was cute. She had hips that made him feel very large. Her small, cute hips were blocking his view of the boy.

 

“Ice water,” Vega said. “And ice.”

 

Arizumi blinked a few times, and turned to the waitress. They exchanged a rapid conversation in Japanese, of which Archer only understood, “hai” and “demo.” He wanted to go home, where people spoke English he could understand. When the waitress left, Vega leaned back in her seat.

 

“We should just do it my way. Much easier.”

 

“You know, I could name the reasons why that’s a bad idea, but I’m not going to bother.”

 

Vega’s water came, and they were quiet for a moment. In the other booth, the boy snatched a piece of something from the blond boy’s plate. The blond pouted.

 

Great. Fly half way around the world to find the kid, only to find out he was a homo.

 

Not that Archer had anything against homos.

 

Just didn’t want them in his face.

 

Vega was frowning. “Let me have your cell phone.” She said this to Arizumi. She got out the phone number and took the phone when it was handed over. Dialed. Across the restaurant, Ban Midou--Midou Ban, whatever--reached into his pocket and answered the phone.

 

|<>|

 

When his cell rang, Ban leaned closer to the window before answering. Even as he was speaking, he realized he should have seen who was calling before he answered; it might be his grandmother. “Midou.”

 

“Speak English?” Woman’s voice, accented, rough German. Young woman. Voice he didn’t recognize, but the tone was curt.

 

Ban answered in English. “All right.   Who’s this?”

 

“Someone who’s been looking for you. It’s important that you listen to me.”

 

The woman’s voice had no accent now. Someone connected with the assassin?

 

“All right. I’m listening.”

 

“Someone wants your blood, Ophiuchus. Someone has been hunting us down one by one.”

 

Suddenly, Ginji and Hevn and Paul were making far too much noise. He leaned closer to the window. This woman knew who he was, knew what he was capable of . . . and she’d implied . . . He wondered which constellation was hers. “Why?”

 

“It would not be good to speak of this in such an easily, ah . . . I do not trust the security of these phones.” The pause--not a native English speaker, then. Well, Ban wasn’t either, maybe she had an accent and he just couldn’t pick up on it.

 

“Fine,” he said. “Where are you?”

 

She laughed quietly. “I’m here.”

 

Ban looked up, and around the little restaurant. He saw the foreign woman on the cell phone, and then the phone cut off. Ban put his phone in his pocket and nudged Ginji out of the booth, to let him pass. Ginji watched him go, legs bouncing a little.

 

When he stopped, Ban stood some distance away. An American--had to be, from the way he held himself, Ban could just tell--and the woman, and a Japanese man. A translator?

 

“What’s going on?”

 

The woman lifted her chin slightly, and from the slight turn of her head he could tell she was scanning the restaurant. “Outside. Too many people.”

 

“Fine,” Ban frowned, stepping back as she slid out the booth and passed him. She moved like a fighter. Not surprising. He followed her outside, ignoring the raised eyebrows on Hevn and Paul as they continued speaking about whatever-they-were-talking-about, and ignoring Ginji’s questioning look.

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

Ginji scooted over in the booth, to where Ban-chan had been sitting--the seat was still warm, that was neat--and peered out the window. Ban-chan and that lady had walked a little bit away from the door, but Ginji could see them both clearly. Did Ban-chan know her? He seemed to know so many people. Of course, it also sometimes seemed like most of the people Ban-chan knew were trying to kill him.

 

Well this lady better not be part of that group, or, well. Something. She just better not be.

 

As he watched, the woman spoke with sort of closed lips--Ban-chan had been speaking English a little on the phone, right? Ginji had figured out that Ban-chan had hung up and looked around for a reason, so maybe she’d called him? That was weird. Why wouldn’t she have just come up to the table?

 

Ban-chan and the lady talked, and a few times Ban-chan looked a bit unhappy, but at least he didn’t look outright mad. What was going on? First dart-things and guys in black and now odd women--hey, maybe there was a connection! Ginji decided to ask Ban-chan when he got back inside. Which he seemed to be doing now, which was very good.

 

The lady went back to her table and started speaking to her friends (?) but Ginji didn’t really care about that. Ban-chan had come back and sat down in Ginji’s old seat. Ginji wondered if it was still warm for Ban-chan the way Ban-chan’s seat had been warm for him.

 

“We need to get going pretty soon,” Ban-chan sounded tense-but-hiding-it.

 

“Oh?” Hevn raised an eyebrow in a way that seemed to say a lot.

 

“Yeah. I’m going to check on the 360.”

 

With that, Ban-chan was up again and heading back for the door. Paul shrugged and Hevn looked mad, and Ginji really wasn’t sure what to make of anything. He turned in his seat a little and looked back at the booth where the weird lady had sat down. The blond guy sneered a little and the weird lady smiled in a way that made it look like she was showing off how sharp her teeth were.

 

Ginji got up and followed Ban-chan, catching up before he managed to make it out the door again.

 

“What are you doing?” Ban-chan glanced over his shoulder, through his glasses, as he stepped outside.

 

“I don’t like them,” the words popped out of Ginji’s mouth before he even knew what he was going to say.

 

“Don’t think I do either,” Ban-chan shrugged, looking away and shoving his hands in his pockets.

 

Oh yeah! “Do they have something to do with the thing last night?”

 

Ban-chan glanced over at that, for longer than a glance probably should be. Maybe it was a look instead of a glance. “You figured that out?”

 

“Yay! I was right!” Ginji smiled brightly, then frowned a little. “So what do they have to do with it?”

 

“Let’s just say they’re like me, and I’ll explain more later, okay?”

 

“I don’t think they’re anything like you, Ban-chan,” Ginji shook his head, somehow very certain about that.

 

Ban-chan looked over at him again, and it almost looked like he couldn’t figure out what to say. Then he was pushing open the door to the garage and they were going inside, so it was too late then to find out if that was the case or not.

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

“What did you tell him?” Archer asked her in English, tapping his fingers on the table top. Annoying habit.

 

“Enough,” Vega replied, laughing shortly. “But not too much. Public.”

 

“I doubt we’re being followed by men with directional microphones,” He clipped back. “They probably don’t know where we are.”

 

“Think what you wish,” she drained the rest of her water, chewed ice, then wiped the glass where her lips had touched. “Or perhaps it is ‘wish what you think?’”

 

“Ha ha, you’re so clever,” Archer pushed his sunglasses higher on his nose.

 

“Oh course I am. The boy,” Midou couldn’t be more than two years younger than Vega herself, but he was still a boy, “Is returning.”

 

“I know. And their car will be fixed by now, and they’re going to send those two other people on ahead. Then we’ll get in our piece of shit car, and follow their piece of shit car back to Tokyo,” Archer droned, as though it were intensely obvious.

 

“I’m sure,” she smiled, aiming for a condescending tone.

 

She was only mildly perturbed when events proved Archer right. Midou spoke to the two others, a flurry of words she couldn’t understand. Then the two others were leaving, and Midou and the blond boy waited until they were out of the parking lot before standing themselves.

 

“ _I’m_ sure,” Archer said, lifting his chin and smirking down at her as he stood.

 

Impossible bastard.

 

“Of course,” she replied instead, chuckling throatily and sliding out of the booth herself. Arizumi followed them, just as they followed Midou and the blond outside.

 

When the two boys went to their car, she continued to follow them, not bothering to explain things to Archer. He’d no doubt enjoy his quality time being annoyed by their interpreter. He might even miss her. Probably not.

 

Midou wasn’t surprised, of course, when she sat down in the backseat of the small car. They had discussed this. She would tell more to him in the vehicle, moving. The radio would be on to mask conversation, and she would be sitting close enough to keep an eye on him, a watch. The blond boy looked surprised, though. A bit uneasy. He should be.

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

“Ban-chan, why is she in our car with us?” Ginji whispered loudly. They’d just pulled out onto the road, and the other guys in that other car were behind them.

 

“Because she’s going to explain things she couldn’t explain with people all around. At least she better,” Ban-chan grumped back.

 

Ginji turned in the seat and looked back at her. She chuckled. Ginji turned back around. “I have no idea what’s going on.”

 

“They know who attacked us last night. I was the target, not you,” Ban-chan’s hands gripped the steering wheel. White knuckles for just a second.

 

“Why did they attack you?” Ginji thought maybe, that it was another one of those cases where someone Ban-chan used to know wanted to hurt him for reasons that made no sense. At least they didn’t make sense to Ginji once he heard why Ban-chan did whatever he had done.

 

“Because they want to kill me.”

 

“Um, yeah, that’s usually what bad guys like that try to do.”

 

“Because of what I am. You remember the stuff I was telling you about? Last night? The stars?” Ban-chan got out a cigarette, sticking it in his mouth and getting ready to light it.

 

“I remember,” Ginji smiled a little.

 

“Well, the American is Orion. That,” he jerked his thumb in the direction of the woman in the backseat, “Is the scorpion. Some bastard wants to drink our blood, or something like that.”  
  
Ginji blinked, and then blinked again. “Ewww. That’s really bad! Why would he want to do that?”

 

“Don’t know. At least not yet,” Ban-chan then said something in what sounded like English. The woman replied, in English, too.

 

Sometimes it struck Ginji just how smart Ban-chan was, and this ended up being one of those times. He sat and listened. Ban-chan tightened his jaw when he wasn’t talking, and smoked the cigarette faster than he normally would, then immediately lit up another.

 

“We’re going to have to be careful until this is sorted out,” Ban-chan said, back in Japanese. “Basically we’re going to go hide out for a bit, come up with a solid plan of attack, and then carry that out.”

 

Ginji fidgeted for a moment. “Is that it?” Or was it just what was important?

 

Three puffs of smoke. “For right now.”

 

“Oh, well--" The rest of what he was about to say was lost in the loud bang, and Ban-chan cursing. Someone had shot one of their tires out.

 

This could be bad.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Gripping the wheel hard, Ban managed to wrestle the 360 successfully to the side of the road. Meaning they didn’t hit anything and didn’t spin out of control. He considered that successful enough, considering they’d been on a curve and hadn’t exactly been going slow when the tire had been shot out.

 

Behind them, the American and the translator’s car came to a smooth stop.

 

On Ban’s side of the vehicle, there was a steep incline dropping down into trees, so at least that was in their favor. The shot had come from Ginji’s side, probably from the top of the hillside they’d been passing.

 

Ban threw open his door and tugged Ginji’s arm, getting him out first. The Scorpio woman could take care of herself and wait her turn for pushing down the driver’s seat and getting out. Which she did, grinning slightly and then crouching down on Ginji’s other side.

 

In the back of his head, Ban realized he’d have to reset the seat, and felt a wave of annoyance. Which he recognized as more than slightly ridiculous. They were being shot at.

 

At least, they _were_. As in past tense.

 

After the initial shot that had blown the tire, things had gone quiet. Looking back at the other car showed Ban that the American had guns out. They gleamed in the sun and the picture seemed to fit, Orion updated. Anyway, the translator must have been huddling inside the car, because Ban didn’t see him.

 

Vega had meanwhile reached into some pocket or another, because she was fitting finger armor onto her index and middle fingers, as well as her thumbs. Whatever. She was grinning. Ban looked away, at Ginji. Who gave him a little smile.

 

 

Right, so they’d been brought to the side of the road, what the hell was the shooter waiting for?

 

As soon as that thought floated through his mind, things exploded. Literally. The top of the hill, where the shooter had likely been, came rolling down in a slide of dirt and rocks, covering the road and rocking the 360 at their backs. People had just sprung up from the incline on their side of the vehicles, evidently having been laying camouflaged, waiting. Ambush.

 

Gunfire erupted from the other car’s direction, and Ban saw three men tumble back down the hill. Vega launched herself right into the middle things, hands up and laughing, and attacked with some sort of martial arts technique. It wasn’t like Ban was going to sit back and analyze what, though, because he and Ginji were moving, off to the side. Footing was a pain in the ass because of the dirt still sliding down from the top of the other hill, but that was the point, probably. The attack from the low ground had come in as though to flank them at the cars, and so they definitely couldn’t stay there.

 

Taking the side, Ban jumped and started running down the hill, then stopped short. If their enemies could use the terrain, so could he. He punched the ground, hard, and a miniature landslide started, loose dirt and larger hunks of soil catching two men and sending them back down the hill. Before they’d started their fall, Ban had gotten a look at their weapons. Tranquilizer guns, but they had sidearms, too. He’d have to make sure he stayed between any of them and Ginji.

 

Ginji, meanwhile, was right by Ban and taking care of their area while Ban had been starting the small landslide. He’d hit two guys in a chain of electricity, and looked to be aiming for another. While Ban watched to make sure Ginji’d get the bolt off, he saw that with that bolt, their side would be clear. Good, that meant Ban could move them over closer to the middle, and as soon as Ginji’s guy went twitching back down the hill they started that way.

 

By then, though, things were almost over.

 

 

The American---Archer, that was his name---was leaning against the side of the other car, looking bored. In front of him, down the hill, were bodies. He’d aimed to kill. Ginji gasped, and Ban looked to see Vega sitting on a man’s chest, running through languages by the sound of it, trying to get him to talk. Around her were more bodies, clawed up, necks broken.

 

Ban stopped, and he felt Ginji stand beside him.

 

“They’re _nothing_ like you, Ban-chan.”

 

Ginji’s voice sounded bitter, boiling. Repeating what he’d said earlier.

 

Ban started to answer, but Ginji was already moving, running and yelling.

 

“STOP! Don’t kill him!”

 

Ban reminded himself that this was Ginji, who’d run and yell things at psychos if it had any chance of helping someone else. And some psychos didn’t like that. He moved fast and got in front of Ginji before he could make it halfway there.

 

It turned out to be pointless, though, because Vega hadn’t moved. She had turned to watch them. Well, at least Ginji had been a little successful.

 

“What did he say?” She sounded annoyed. English.

 

“What did she say?” Ginji asked Ban.

 

“She wanted to know what you’d said,” Ban replied, talking to Ginji first. Then he spoke to Vega. Really, he was going to get a headache from switching languages like this. Especially two languages he’d had to learn. “He asked you to stop. Not to kill that guy.”

 

“Oh,” Vega raised her eyebrows. “No.”

 

Then she turned back to the man whose chest she was sitting on, and tapped the side of his face with her bloody finger armor.

 

Ginji evidently got the idea and started towards her. Ban grabbed his shoulders and stopped him. “Idiot, look at what they’ve done!”  
  
"I know! That’s why I’m trying to stop her from doing it again!” Ginji wheeled around and looked at Ban, eyes seeming like they were trying to decide between narrowing in anger or widening in sympathy. Somehow they got the point across anyway.

 

They heard a gurgling noise, and they both stopped and looked.

 

It was too late.

 

“They were trying to kill us, you fools,” Vega snapped out, starting back up the hill.

 

The man twitched, still in the middle of dying. His face was turning purple, and the whites of his eyes had gone bloody red.

 

Ginji’s hair stood up a little more. Ban put a hand on his shoulder, and felt his own hair prickle up.

 

“What did you do to him?!” Ginji demanded, pointing at the dying man.

 

“What?” Vega looked rather unconcerned, and looked at Ban for the translation. Which he gave. She snorted. “He’s poisoned. There’s nothing to be done for him. It has a paralyzing effect, numbs the pain as it kills. Tell your _boy_ to grow up and relax.”

 

Ban felt a vein on the side of his head throb and very nearly did tell Ginji exactly what she’d said, but decided not to. Instead, he translated the first part, emphasizing that the poison had numbing effects.

 

Meanwhile, the man had stopped gurgling.

 

Ginji just looked sad.

 

“What the fuck are we waiting for?” The American barked down the hill. “We need to go.”

 

Ban ignored him and pulled Ginji up the hill. The sound of an engine revving and roaring away didn’t cover the noise of the translator throwing up.

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

They spoke while they dug at the dirt in front of their rental car’s tires, building an incline for the vehicle to hopefully get on top of the landslide’s loose dirt and away. It was good that only a relatively thin layer of dirt had made it this far onto the road, or they’d have had to walk.

 

Archer made a noise of disgust. He shouldn’t be in the dirt like some animal or insect. “I’m digging through dirt with my hands. How crass.”

 

“Shut up, spoiled American,” Vega laughed lightly. She was in a wonderful mood.

 

Archer pointed this out.

 

“Did you notice Midou’s boy’s little tricks?” She replied.

 

“How could I not. They utterly lacked subtlety,” Archer smirked. “But yes. Electricity.”

 

“Lightning,” Vega laughed again, sounding utterly girlish and young. It was disconcerting, especially with the blood spots on the front of her shirt.

 

“Someone was feeling suicidal, hm?” Archer chuckled.

 

“If that were still the case, we’d have been fortunate,” Vega stood up, dusting her hands off.

 

“Or you would have been, anyway. The bastard chasing us would probably still go after me,” Archer said, rising to his feet. He didn’t trust Vega enough to let her stand over him like that. After all, the scorpion had killed Orion.

 

“Yes, well,” Vega shrugged lightly, adjusting her sunglasses. “Midou doesn’t know about that part. Though I might tell him how generous we’ve been in not killing him.”

 

“He doesn’t know that he needs to be killed and drained before you are?” Archer repeated, just for clarity’s sake. “That is to our advantage, isn’t it,” he continued, repeating the plural pronoun Vega had initialized.

 

She smiled. “Indeed.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

He’d been right. It had been bad.

 

Over by the 360, he and Ban-chan were moving dirt out of the way. They needed to hurry, or the ones the attackers he and Ban-chan had knocked out might get up and then might get killed. They still needed to change the tire, too.

 

“Ban-chan, what happened to the guy who shot our tire?” Ginji asked, ignoring the tickle of a trickle of sweat dropping down his nose. It was hot, those poor guys’ bodies were going to---he needed to stop thinking about that. But that was hard.

 

“He got away, probably reporting what happened,” Ban-chan kept his eyes on the dirt, using his strength to shovel away great handfuls. He was making a lot more progress than Ginji was.

 

“Was that the engine noise?” Ginji wanted to talk. “I wasn’t looking. Poor Arizumi. They were just going to let him puke and be freaked out.”

 

“Yeah, they were. You did good, Ginji, I’m sure he appreciated the help.”

 

“I hope so,” Ginji looked down again, then got up to get the spare tire out. Poor car, it was going through all kinds of trouble. Poor them, so were they.

 

Ban-chan helped Ginji change the tire. Actually, Ban-chan changed the tire, and Ginji stood beside him for moral support. Ginji _could_ change a tire, of course, but sometimes Ban-chan liked to do things like this. Ginji watched him jack the car up and start removing the tire. Ginji bit his lip a little, thinking about things. He looked over at Vega and Archer (and it made him so mad that they could just kill like that and then be okay with it, that _just wasn’t right_ ), then back down at Ban-chan. Ginji’s eyebrows where drawn together a little and his skin felt tight on his forehead.

 

“Ban-chan.” He waited for Ban-chan to grunt in a way that meant “I am paying attention to you” before he continued. “I know you know what’s going on, um, you know more than me anyway. Tell me please?”

 

He crouched beside Ban-chan. Ban-chan put the hubcap on the ground and exhaled a puff of smoke. He’d smoked a lot this morning.

 

“Somebody is killing us. Those of us with the curses. We,” he indicated himself, the car behind him. “Are the only three left. He has a thing for corresponding to the myths as closely as he can, so he saved us for last, because our curses are kind of intertwined. Archer and Vega came to find me so we could make a stand, and maybe take this guy out before he gets to us.”

 

Ginji blinked. That was bad. “That’s bad, Ban-chan. How many were there?”

 

“Twenty-one, in all. So, eighteen dead.”

 

That was very bad. But twenty-one? Ginji remembered reading horoscopes with Natsumi-chan on Saturdays. Ginji was an Aries. “I thought there were only twelve constellations in the zodiac, though. ‘Cause of horoscopes and stuff.”

 

“ . . . It’s complicated. It has less to do with the zodiac, really, than it does with the sun and--Never mind. Eighteen dead. The youngest one was fourteen--Virgo.”

 

“Berugo?” Ban-chan could make funny noises.

 

“No, Vvvirgo,” he stressed the consonants. “It’s--never mind. She was the youngest. She’s dead.”

 

Fourteen was younger than Makubex. Ginji’s frown grew deeper. “And now whoever-it-is is trying to kill you and them?” Ginji did not like Archer and Vega. He hoped very much that Vega didn’t try to get in the car with him and Ban-chan again.

 

“Yeah. To complete the set, or something, who knows.” Ban-chan’s cigarette dropped ash as he spoke. The complete set of one cursed generation, it seemed.

 

“But . . . why?”

 

“I said I don’t know.”

 

Ban-chan was frustrated, and his tone was sharp. Ginji knew Ban-chan wasn’t angry with him, so he tried not to let it bother him. Besides, another detail was kicking around in Ginji’s head at the moment. “The myth . . . but didn’t Scorpio kill Orion . . .?” Maybe he was wrong. He thought that was in the story Ban-chan had told him last night but a lot had happened between then and now and even though he’d wanted to remember the story, he could only remember parts of it.

 

“Yeah,” Ban-chan said.

 

“How did Asu-ku-ri-pi-u-su die?”

 

“It’s Asclepius, and I told you--Zeus killed him.” Ban-chan put his cigarette back in his mouth, and started working on the tire again. Ginji knew when a conversation was over, and this was one of those times. He stood up again, and looked at the dead people, at Archer and Vega, then back down at Ban-chan.

 

Ginji would have been happier if the bad people were coming after him, instead. At least then he wouldn’t be so confused, and feel like people were keeping things--lots of things!--from him. It even felt like Ban-chan was keeping things from him . . . which wasn’t entirely new. Ginji sighed a little. He would try not to let it get to him, but they were partners, _s_ , and best friends. It was hard.

 

Vega was headed in their direction. Ban-chan stood up as she approached, and they spoke for a while in English. Ban-chan looked irritated and said something loud and growly, and Archer called a comment from the car. Vega smiled again and said something else. It was that mean, my-teeth-are-sharp smile. Ban-chan’s hands curled into fists and he growled again. Vega laughed, and walked off.

 

Ginji was really beginning to wish he knew English.

 

“Get in the car, Ginji.” Ban-chan was already headed over to his door. Ginji did so, and sat there and waited while Ban-chan fixed his seat. His seat didn’t seem to want to work. Ban-chan cursed--in not-Japanese still--and kicked the seat. It popped back into place with a _poing_ that sounded to Ginji like something almost broke. But Ginji didn’t say anything about it and Ban-chan got in and started the car. It was a bumpy ride over the earth the landslide had left in the road, and Ginji waited until they’d left that place far behind them before he asked what Vega had said.

 

“We’re going to go hang out someplace,” Ban-chan told him. “Not the Honky Tonk or anything like that, someplace they wouldn’t look for us.”

 

“Oh. Where?”

 

Ban-chan’s hands tightened on the wheel. “A hotel.”

 

Ginji had never stayed in a real hotel before. He wondered if there would be a big bed and a “Do Not Disturb” sign and room service and if there was he was going to order something because he’d never done _that_ before, either. But wait! That stuff cost money.

 

“Do we have enough for a hotel, Ban-chan?” Because maybe they did. But they probably didn’t have enough for a hotel _and_ food for next week.

 

Ban-chan got growly again. “Hell no. They’re paying for it.” He jerked his thumb at the car behind them. Ginji looked back and he could see that Archer was driving now, and Arizumi was in the backseat, and looking very scared. Ginji thought they should have brought Arizumi in the 360 with them. At least then he wouldn’t be around Vega. Who killed because she could. Ginji wondered if she knew Akabane.

 

“Ginji.”

 

Ginji looked back at Ban-chan.

 

“I know you’re pissed about what happened back there. So am I. But don’t you go picking fights with them.”

 

Ginji frowned. His forehead felt tight again. “I can’t just let them do that again.”

 

“Yeah, well, you’re not bulletproof. Or immune to poison.”

 

Ginji blinked. Ban-chan was worried about him. Ban-chan worried more than he let on, at least Ginji thought so, so Ban-chan must be really, _really_ worried, to say something like that. Ginji was a little humbled. But as worried as Ban-chan was, Ginji couldn’t promise to stand by and not try to stop Vega or Archer from killing somebody else. “I’ll be careful, Ban-chan.”

 

Ban-chan said, “Hn.”

 

That was the last thing he said until they got back to Tokyo.

 

|<>|

 

The hotel looked like a castle. Ban had seen it before, and he could not believe they were going to stay here. He bet there would be tin suits of armor and cheap erotic tapestries in the halls, too. He parked the car in a legal spot. Archer and Vega pulled up not much later, as Ban and Ginji were getting a change of clothes out of the trunk. The translator was pink in the face and gesturing at the hotel. His English was heavily accented. “This is not good hotel, not good place to stay!”

 

Vega and Archer were ignoring him.

 

“You know, you can let him go now,” Ban said when they were close enough. “I can translate for you.”

 

Archer smiled a little and exhaled smoke in Ban’s direction. “Hmm . . . no. I like having a neutral translator, thank you. Arizuki is staying.”

 

“His name is Arizumi.”

 

“Psh. Whatever, none of it makes any sense, anyway. Come on.”

 

Vega and Arizumi followed Archer into the hotel.

 

Ginji tugged on Ban’s sleeve. “Ban-chan. This. Is a love hotel.”

 

“I know.”

 

Ginji blushed a little. “We’re going to _stay_ here?” His eyes were wide.

 

Ban blushed a little, too. “Well, it’s anonymous and cheap and--well, they’re paying. Besides, they’ll probably have good beds.”

 

“Ban-chan!” Ginji was pinker. “Oo, oh, we get to sleep in a bed?”

 

Ban rolled his eyes and led Ginji inside. Ginji pulled his vest up and covered his face, so that only his eyes were showing. What did he think he was going to see? The paint and décor inside was huge and gothic and ostentatious. There were tin suits of armor, and cheap tapestries, but the tapestries weren’t erotic. Just bad. There was a series of lockers on one wall, not even a registry desk. Totally anonymous. Vega opened one locker and turned to present them a key.

 

“Room 410. On the corner. We’re a floor below. There’s a fire escape out the window.”

 

“And just four stories to climb down.”

 

“Hey,” Archer said as he opened another locker and claimed his own key. “If you don’t like it, you and your boyfriend can pay for yourselves.”

 

Ban’s hand clenched around the key, and he couldn’t decide which language he wanted to curse in.

 

He watched Archer and Vega go, and waited until the elevator returned to the ground floor to lead Ginji to it. Ginji peeked up at the ceiling--it was a mirror. Ban didn’t look up, and he tried to not look down either. Who knew what went on in this elevator? What the substance was, exactly, that made the floors a little sticky? Ban didn’t want to think about it too hard.

 

He led Ginji to room 410 and groaned aloud when he saw the door.

 

It was broad and had bars over the wood, like a prison--or a dungeon.

 

He hoped his assumption was wrong.

 

It wasn’t.

 

He opened the door on a gothic bondage paradise, and sighed. Everything was black and dark red, but the bed was enormous and looked very comfortable. Oh, he hoped the sheets were clean.

 

Ginji had dropped his vest from around his face (though it looked like the blush was there to stay), and had gone over to poke things on a shelf. He eventually made his way to the bed, and poked the handcuffs on the bed frame. “Ban-chan, why are there handcuffs . . .?”

 

Ginji, apparently, had never been enlightened in such matters, and Ban didn’t have the heart to be the one to do it. Ginji didn’t wait for an answer before wandering to poke more props. He stopped and looked at the door very intently. Ban sat in a chair--gingerly, making sure there were no surprises buried in the cushions. There seemed to be a small shower attached to the room. He would be using that in a minute.

 

After a moment, Ginji made a disappointed sound and went to another chair. “There’s not a ‘do not disturb’ sign.”

 

Sometimes, Ban just couldn’t figure out what was going on in Ginji’s head. “It’s a love hotel, Ginji. The whole place is about ‘do not disturb.’”

 

“Well, yeah. Still. I was hoping there’d be room service and a sign but hey! There’s a big bed! It looks comfy.”

 

After a few years of sleeping in the 360, Ban was inclined to believe that any bed was comfortable. “I just hope it’s clean. I’m going to take a shower.”

 

“Okay, Ban-chan.” Ginji yawned, and Ban remembered that Ginji had been awake all night. He pursed his lips.

 

“Why don’t you go first, actually? Then go to sleep.”

 

“Mm, okay.” Ginji smiled, this bright, sleepy little smile, and stood up to go do that. Ban crossed his legs and waited. The shower ran and Ginji was humming; Ban could hear him through the door. When Ginji came out, Ban went to take his own shower, and by the time he’d come out, Ginji was asleep in the middle of the bed, curled up under the dark red sheets.

 

Ban sighed. He rubbed the back of his neck absently, and climbed in beside him once his hair wasn’t dripping anymore. He looked up at the ceiling and thought about stars until he fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

 

The first thing Ban was aware of was the sharp, impatient knocking at the window. The second thing he was aware of was that his left side was much warmer than it should be. He opened his eyes. It was because Ginji had rolled over and had evidently decided that Ban made a good pillow to hug onto.

 

Another knock drew Ban’s eyes towards the window. He should have looked there first. Anyway. Vega was perched on the fire escape---who ever heard of a stupid castle of a love hotel with a fire escape like that?---and looking pissed.

 

Great.

 

Ban slid off the side of the bed, very pointedly not looking back to watch Ginji glom onto the warm spot of the bed where he’d been lying.

 

“What?” He pulled up the window with a hard yank. He spoke Japanese out of sheer habit.

 

Vega hopped inside, ignoring his question in favor of tugging her gloves on a bit more tightly.  


Ban clenched his jaw. “What?” He repeated again, this time in English. Damn this switching languages thing. Especially in the morning.

 

“Archer needs to go to a hospital,” she frowned, nostrils flaring a little as she let out an annoyed huff of air. “He took too many sleeping pills. Cannot sleep without them. His downside of the curse.”

 

Insomnia. Ban wondered what Vega’s negative aspect was. As far as things went, and what he knew of the other constellations and their curses, there were positive aspects, and the negative aspects could either be constant or consequence based.

 

“Well?” Vega snapped, glaring at him. “Get downstairs, two minutes, and be ready show us where a hospital is that might not get us caught to go to. I want to get moving.”

 

“We’ll be down when we get there,” Ban bristled, glaring back. “Don’t go ordering us around.”

 

Vega ignored that, and just replied with, “Just come downstairs!” Then she turned and climbed back out the window.

 

“Ban-chan, what’s going on? Why is she all worried? And why didn’t she use the door?” Ginji was sitting up and yawning.

 

“She’s not worried, she’s psychotic. Which is probably why she didn’t use the door. Something about the American, took too many sleeping pills and has to go to the hospital,” Ban pulled the window back down and relocked it.

 

“Oh! That’s bad, we should hurry,” Ginji stood up and headed to the bathroom.

 

“Yeah, I guess,” Ban groused, running a hand back through his hair.

 

He decided to go ahead and put his shoes on while Ginji used the bathroom. Sometimes Ginji floored him, sounding all worried about a guy he’d been so mad at yesterday. Ban then re-examined what he’d just thought, and realized that yeah, he should have known Ginji would be concerned. Ban hadn’t even cared, really, he’d just been annoyed at the inconvenience and the risk involved with taking care of some guy who obviously thought his shit didn’t stink. Ban wondered if he should feel guilty for not caring. He didn’t, especially not since this was Archer’s own fault. But the fact that he’d wondered that to begin with was a bit telling. Ginji tended to make him look at things differently.

 

Ginji came out of the bathroom then, and Ban went in, not bothering to tell Ginji to get ready. Obviously he already knew. A few minutes later they were downstairs, and Arizumi, the translator, answered the door. He looked as though he was keeping his head down, out of the line of fire, so to speak. Ban couldn’t blame the guy.

 

“Finally!” Vega snapped, even as the door was opening. “Pick him up! I cannot.”

 

Arizumi translated, speaking quietly and stepping out of their line of sight as quickly as possible. Archer was slumped in a chair, leaning sideways over the arm, head lolled forward onto his chest. Vega was standing beside the chair and gesturing at them to hurry.

 

“I’ll get him,” Ginji said, already starting forward. “Um, Ban-chan are we taking the 360 or their car or are we walking?”

 

“We’re not walking. I guess we can put him in their car and have them follow us,” Ban followed Ginji over, standing between Vega and Ginji in a very deliberate way.

 

The woman just sneered at him and went to the chair’s other side, hovering almost. “What are you saying?” She asked, her English punctuated by sharp hand gestures. Arizumi started to translate, but stopped when she wheeled on him and glared. “I do not care if he,” she pointed at Ginji, “Can understand.”

 

Ginji, by this time, had Archer over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. He just looked at Ban.

 

“She wanted to know what we were saying,” he filled in, stepping between Vega and Ginji again before turning his attention back to the woman. “We were talking about the cars. Transportation. We know Shinjuku better than anywhere else in the city, if we’re going to take him to a hospital with a layout we know, it’ll have to be there.”

 

“Fine! I do not care!” Vega threw her hands up, and then adjusted her gloves with hard tugs, pulling them on tighter again. She tried to step around Ban. He didn’t want her by Ginji, so he didn’t let her get around him, and nodded at Ginji to start out. Arizumi was holding the door and looking like he wanted to crawl under the gaudy bed.

 

On their way down, they didn’t encounter anyone, but on their way out the door a young couple coming in was trying not to stare at them, walking out of a love hotel with one woman and four men, one of whom was obviously unconscious. It must have been a hell of a picture, Ban had to admit. He just wished Ginji (and himself) weren’t a part of it.

 

Whatever. A few minutes later they’d deposited Archer in the backseat of the rental, were safely in the 360, and headed to Shinjuku. Ban figured that knowing the area would be an advantage, at least, if they were going to be stuck someplace so public while being targeted. Even if it was predictable, it wasn’t as though they’d been struck at in public places, so maybe that was a plus as well.

 

At any rate, thinking all around what could happen really wouldn’t change what had to be done, and how they were going about it. There wasn’t enough time. Before long Ban was passing the front of the hospital. He watched the rental car behind them stop there, but kept driving. Vega had clipped out the plan in the elevator: The 360 would lead the other car to the hospital, then park elsewhere, making a circuit around the building to check for anything suspicious.

 

Ban hadn’t cared enough to argue, but now he was wondering. What would happen if they’d just let Archer die? Whoever was targeting them wanted (needed?) all of their blood, so if Archer died, that would presumably save Ban’s own ass. Ban clenched his jaw and tightened his grip on the wheel. He very deliberately focused on driving and looking around for a few long moments. It was just speculation, but it still felt pretty shitty to think about things from all angles, sometimes.

 

Then it occurred to him that if Archer dying would save him, then Vega probably wouldn’t be so damn bent on saving the bastard. And besides, if that were so, why wouldn’t Archer and Vega have just killed Ban? Some sort of misplaced, bizarre constellation camaraderie? Oh yeah, that was likely. Ban rolled his eyes at himself and snorted. He needed a smoke.

 

“Ban-chan?”

 

Ban paused. “What is it, Ginji?” Then he stuck a cigarette in his mouth.

 

“Um, I think we could maybe park now,” Ginji sounded like he was fidgeting.

 

“Yeah, I was just being sure,” Ban picked a spot, making sure it was in a place that wasn’t about to get them towed---wouldn’t that just be a great addition to the day? Then they were parked, and before opening the door Ban lit up and took a lungful of hot smoke.

 

Ginji had been fidgeting, and still was. “I was thinking, uh, how are we going to fight the bad guy? Does anyone even know who he is?”

 

“If they know, they haven’t told me. So they better not know,” Ban blew smoke out the window and took another pull off the cigarette. “Though they think the man is extremely rich, and has a good amount of contacts and that sort of thing. Which is pretty obvious when you look at how he’s not had a problem blowing up bits of hillside, trying to shoot you, and killing eighteen people all across the globe and draining most of the blood from their bodies.”

 

And what his grandmother had said about the man, what little she’d been able to tell him---connections and money and power---backed up what the two had said. Which was one of the few reasons Ban had believed anything that Vega had said at all, that corroboration.

 

“Draining the blood from their bodies?!” Ginji sat up straighter. Ban didn’t have to look to know that Ginji’s eyes were probably wide. He looked anyway.

 

“Why else did you think I meant when I said the guy wanted to drink our blood?” Ban shrugged.

 

“I didn’t know you meant---" Ginji frowned and bowed his head for a moment before continuing on in a quieter voice. “I didn’t think you meant it like that.”

 

Ban frowned. “Look, don’t go pouting on me because you didn’t understand.” He hated it when Ginji pouted, not in the ‘you stole the last piece of pizza, Ban-chan!’ way, but in that serious way. It was damn unsettling for some reason. Especially when Ban felt like it was his fault for making Ginji pout.

 

“I’m not!” Ginji straightened his back and grinned, brightly, like a harsh fluorescent light.

 

That was even worse.

 

“Don’t go doing that either,” Ban pushed his glasses up on his nose and looked out the window, checking the side mirror to see behind the car. At least, that was the excuse. “I guess I should have explained better.”

 

When he looked back, Ginji was relaxed again and just sitting there. Then he smiled a little. “I wasn’t blaming you, Ban-chan, don’t think that.”

 

“I didn’t.”

 

Ginji made a little hm-noise. “Okaay. As long as there’s nobody blaming anybody for anything.”

 

Which meant Ginji was onto him before he was even onto himself. Great. Ban shook his head and took another drag, grinning slightly. “Nobody’s blaming anybody for anything.”

 

“Except the bad evil guy, because he is bad and evil.”  
  
Ban snickered and stubbed his cigarette out. “That works for me.”

 

By the time they got into the hospital, Vega had already called Ban’s cell phone, and clipped out where in the hospital they were and how long things would take. Enough time to get Archer’s stomach pumped and some sort of drug injected into him. Evidently the rental car had been taken car of, at least, it wasn’t mentioned so Ban couldn’t bring himself to care.

 

Nothing to do now but wait, and hope no one found them. Ban rubbed the back of his neck irritably and then shoved his hands in his pockets. Could be worse. He headed up to the roof, and Ginji followed. Ban found a convenient place to sit and lit another cigarette. It was hot up here, but the heat was good, vital. Ginji sat beside him, and after a few minutes, the fidgeting began.

 

“Ban-chan.”

 

“Mm.”

 

“Is English hard?”

 

Not the question Ban had expected, and it took him just a second to contrive an appropriate complaint and diversion. “I didn’t think so when I was learning it. But switching between Japanese and English all the damn time . . . I’m gonna tell Arizumi to just cut out, no sense in him being here.”

 

“Nn, that’s a good idea, Ban-chan.” Ginji swung his feet a little. He didn’t say anything else about English, and Ban was relieved. They could see the rental car from here, and for Ban, it was through a screen of cigarette smoke. When his cigarette was finished, Ban stuck his hand in his pocket and considered the bills there. There was a cafeteria in the hospital.

 

“You hungry, Ginji?”

 

Ginji’s stomach rumbled loudly, and Ginji clapped his hands over it. “Eheheh.”

 

Ban rolled his eyes, flowed to his feet. “Come on. Let’s go find something to eat.”

 

|<>|

 

Vega didn’t call again, so after they finished their sushi--they shared a little plate of the cheapest kind--they went back up to the roof and Ban-chan lit another cigarette. He would need to buy new cigarettes soon, Ginji thought. Ginji stood with his feet on the rail and leaned over the edge of the roof, balanced comfortably and sure. He looked down at the trees and the street and the people below them, and felt Ban-chan move to stand next to him. If Ginji fell, Ban-chan would catch him. That’s just how things were.

 

A few minutes later, Ban-chan grabbed the back of Ginji’s shirt and pulled him off the railing and sort of down, so they were hidden behind the little wall on the edge of the roof. It had happened fast, so Ginji sat there and blinked for a minute. “Ban-chan?”

 

“The rental car’s surrounded. Didn’t you see them?” Ban-chan sounded very tense, like he wanted to bite things.

 

Ginji hadn’t been looking at the car, so he shook his head. He stood up a little and peeked over and--yep. He could see people wandering around by the rental car, and somebody was on a motorcycle, just sitting there with their helmet on, and there was a car.

 

If they got attacked in the city, Vega and Archer couldn’t kill anybody without a bunch of witnesses! So they probably wouldn’t kill anybody. That was good!

 

Ginji sat back down beside Ban-chan again. “Maybe we could go to Mugenjou? It’s not far to walk.”

 

“You really want to bring this to Mugenjou? Pull in all your friends?”

 

Ginji hadn’t thought about it like that. “Oh. I guess not.”

 

“They’ve probably found the 360 by now, too--dammit!” Ban-chan got his phone out and called Vega. The conversation was incomprehensible, of course, but Ginji listened, anyway. He heard his name. When Ban-chan put the phone back in his pocket, he said, “We’re going to go get Archer and Vega. Archer’s just about ready to go. Then we’re going to leave the hospital and find somewhere to go.”

 

“Like where?”

 

“I dunno.” Ban-chan bit his lip. “I’d like to know how the hell they’re following us. Come on.”

 

They left the roof and took the stairs down to Archer’s floor. Archer was just leaving the room, Vega behind him, and Arizumi still looking nervous and confused. Ginji smiled at him. It was okay! Ginji was confused too. He walked near Arizumi as they left. It was so hot, the hottest part of the summer, but Vega was still wearing her gloves, tucked into her long sleeves.

 

Ban-chan was leading them away from the cars. Everyone was tense, walking silently and quickly, and Ban-chan took random turns and led them in random directions. They seemed random to Ginji, anyway, and before too long, Ginji had no idea where they were. True, Ginji didn’t have the best sense of direction, but he wondered if Ban-chan even knew where he was leading them.

 

As they approached a random alley, Ginji heard bells.

 

Kazuki stepped out in front of them.

 

“Ban, Ginji!” He smiled pleasantly. “I need to speak to--“

 

Archer laughed.

 

Ginji’s eyes narrowed a little and he turned to glance back at Archer, who was looking right at Kazuki and laughing. Ginji _felt_ Kazuki tense and he stepped back a little towards his friend. Ban-chan said something that didn’t sound flattering at Archer, and Archer and Vega said something and Archer was _still_ laughing and did Kazuki understand English because Kazuki was _much more tense_ now and--

 

Ban-chan held up both hands. “We do not have time for this! Thread Spool, we’ve got a complicated situation on our hands and _we need to go_ so--“

 

“I’ll walk with you then.”

 

“You--“ Ban-chan shut his mouth, and made a jerky sort of motion with his hands. “Fine. _Fine_. Do whatever the hell you--“

 

Archer stumbled forward and fell over, one hand on the back of his neck. Vega ducked behind a trashcan, but a dart caught in her braid before she got out of sight.

 

They were being attacked in the middle of Tokyo.

 

This could be _bad_.

 

Ban-chan grabbed Kazuki and Ginji and herded them to take cover in the alley, too, behind some more trashcans. Ginji thought randomly that it was good that they were all skinny. Wait! Where was Arizumi!? Oh, there he was! Arizumi had run inside a random store.

 

Archer was unconscious in the middle of the sidewalk.

 

Ginji poked his head out to look and ducked back again really fast. People on the street had stopped walking and looked curious. Across the street, straight across from the mouth of the alley they were in, a man in a suit with dark sunglasses was putting something in his pocket. Looking up, there wasn’t anyone on top of any nearby buildings that he could see, so Ginji started to get up. They didn’t have much time, he bet, before other people got here and Archer was unconscious and he’d just been in the hospital and so---

 

Ban-chan yanked him back. “Where are you going?”

 

“There’s only that one guy I could see and if we don’t hurry---“

 

But it was too late, because a white van had just pulled up right beside where Archer had fallen.

 

“--Then that’ll probably happen, Ban-chan,” Ginji finished.

 

“Why do you think I held you back! They shot you before!” Ban-chan got that out pretty fast, like all in one annoyed stream of words.

 

“What?!” Kazuki sounded a little shocked.

 

The van’s side door now opening, and they couldn’t just stay safe anymore, they had to do _something_ , so Ginji started to lean out again to go and try to stop things, but Ban-chan was pulling him back again. Which was probably a good thing, because one of the little darts barely missed hitting him. That would have been bad.

 

Vega---well at least she was doing something---had out little dart things. She seemed to be---ew---licking their points before throwing them from her place of safety.

 

Kazuki stood up a little, Ginji could tell without looking, and somehow the bells were loud over the murmuring of the confused normal people still on the street and the sound of muffled punching sounds. What were those?

 

Kazuki dropped back down, pretty fast. “They have guns with silencers, and are shooting from inside the van. They have _guns_ in _Tokyo_.”

 

“Yeah, Thread Spool, we kind of knew that.” It sounded like Ban-chan was biting the words.

 

Ginji started to lean out and look to see what was going on---they had to do _something!---_ but got pulled back again, this time by both Ban-chan and Kazuki. Before he could do anything else, he heard the engine of the van rev up and the door slam shut.

 

It all took less than fifteen seconds, from when Archer hit the ground to when the door of the van shut. People on the street were looking confused, and a few of them were on cell phones and speaking rapidly. Even though Ginji couldn’t hear what they were saying, he bet they were calling the police.

 

“We should get out of this area,” Kazuki said, sounding almost calm.

 

“No shit.” Ban-chan did not.

 

Vega stood up and kicked the garbage can she’d been tucked behind, and then strode out of the alley and started picking up her little darts. They were all on the sidewalk, and in a little trail that stopped at the curb.

 

She hadn’t been aiming at the attackers. She’d been aiming at Archer.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

 

Vega hadn’t said anything since they collected Arizumi. Kazuki led them a few alleys over, and they took the fire escape up to the roof of a tall building. Vega had a produced little bleach wipes from somewhere, and was wiping down the tips of her darts before replacing them in . . . whatever she’d taken them out of.

 

A few minutes later, a crow had settled on the edge of the roof, looked at them, and flown away. Which meant that Shido was probably coming. Which did nothing to improve Ban’s mood.

 

He was out of cigarettes.

 

Ginji was making some effort to explain the situation to Kazuki, who jingled when he nodded, and asked questions. Some of his questions, Ban and Ginji couldn’t answer. This lack of answers was irritating. Being chased, being _prey_ , was infuriating. Serpents were supposed to be predators, absolutely _not_ prey, and sometimes Ban felt the influence of the curse more than others. Now, all of his skin felt tight and agitated with anger; he had to clench his teeth to keep from grinding them; his lungs and his fingers and his mouth ached for a cigarette.

 

Arizumi was watching them, and for a moment, his eyes caught on Ban’s angry gaze. For a long moment, the man froze, staring at Ban’s eyes.

 

Ban pushed his glasses up. Arizumi might as well have been hypnotized, and he blinked suddenly and shook his head a little.

 

Ginji wasn’t affected like that. He never was. He didn’t even seem to notice that there was something he ought to be afraid of.

 

“So then we left the hospital and now we are here except poor Archer-san who is not here. But you know that,” Ginji finished the story and settled back next to Ban.

 

Kazuki said something else, but Ban wasn’t listening. His eyes had moved over to Vega, who was sitting in a corner of the roof, looking tense and agitated, and watching traffic on the street below.

 

It was noon. The sky was hot and bright, and there wasn’t as much as a cloud or a breeze to offer relief. The roof was black and the sun hammered down on it, and Vega was wiping her face every few seconds. Why was she still wearing her gloves? Why was she dressed like that in this weather? Her clothing wasn’t armor, she wasn’t protecting herself . . .

 

She had licked the darts.

 

She was Scorpio, and the scorpion was poisonous.

 

She wasn’t protecting _herself_.

 

“Why can’t you take off your gloves?” Ban asked, in English. He wanted confirmation. He wanted to know exactly what was going on. Now.

 

She looked up, and her own eyes were like knives.

 

Ban stood up. He had to shake off Ginji’s hand and he didn’t need to look back at Ginji to know that he was looking concerned and big-eyed. Vega stood up before he’d taken three steps towards her, and there was eye contact.

 

“Why can’t you take off your gloves? It’s a simple question. Is that your price for the curse?” Ban approached her slowly, hands loose at his sides. “Your sweat is a poison? Is that it?”

 

“Want to try it?” Vega wiped the sweat off her forehead, held her hand as though she were going to flick the moisture in his face.

 

Behind him, Ginji got to his feet. Ban’s hands curled into fists and he took a step to the side, so if she did flick the sweat, it couldn’t possibly land on anyone but him.

 

“I want to know what you know and haven’t told us. You know more than you’ve let on. I know you do.”

 

Vega had been glaring since he started speaking, but now the glare honed, focused on him specifically. “You disgusting--you should be _grateful_ to us for not _killing_ you the moment we saw you.”

 

“And why didn’t you, huh?”

 

“Since we found you and told you what was going on, we’ve been attacked over and over again. We _thought_ you might be useful, but we were obviously wrong! What were you doing when they were taking Orion? Hiding behind a _trashcan_!” She said something vicious in Spanish and looked like she wanted to spit at the ground at his feet. In the background, Arizumi didn’t even try to translate it.

 

“You were cowering, too! In fact, the only one that _tried_ to save your precious Archer was Ginji!”

 

“You--!“ Words caught behind Vega’s teeth, and she moved forward, moving her arms up in motion that fairly screamed the intent to strike out at him. Ban waited, ready to dodge or strike right back. Should have known this would happen eventually.

 

But before either of them could do anything, they heard clanging on the fire escape. Vega reacted the same time Ban did, and stopped in mid-motion, taking a step back. Ban’s muscles relaxed just a little bit, and he turned to face the side of the roof, ready for another assault (and nowhere to run here, they’d have to stay and fight). Vega pulled out a dart and spit on it, and Ban could _tell_ Ginji’s tension just escalated.

 

A crow (the same crow?) landed on the ledge in front of the fire escape, and Ban sighed. “Put your dart away, Vega, we know him.”

 

She didn’t put her dart away, but she did lower it, and a moment later Shido hoisted himself up, and onto the roof.

 

“What are you doing here, Monkey Trainer?” Ban wondered if Shido would buy him a pack of cigarettes. He wondered if that was desperation.

 

Shido snorted and looked over at Kazuki. “Did you find out?”

 

“Oh--Actually, Shido, things were a little hectic and I haven’t had a chance yet--“

 

“Find out what?” Ban had no problem interrupting people.

 

“Why you took Ginji to a love hotel.”

 

“Oh!” Ginji bounced to his feet and smiled. “Yes! It looked like a castle and there was a _big bed_ _!_ But there wasn’t a ‘do not disturb’ sign or a room service menu or anything but there was a real shower and there were handcuffs on the bed too and I didn’t know why do you know why?”

 

Shido blushed. He actually blushed.

 

Ban snorted, and Shido’s eyes narrowed and turned to face Ban. He looked like he was ready to fight. “You took Ginji to the bondage room in a love hotel! Bastard!”

 

Ban was in no mood for this. He still hadn’t gotten any answers from Vega. “ _I_ didn’t take him to a love hotel, some American took him--“

 

“ _What_?!” Shido was almost purple.

 

“Shido,” Kazuki stepped in. “They went there because it was anonymous. Someone’s trying to kill them. Didn’t you hear about the shooting a few blocks away?”

 

Shido shifted, relaxed a little. “I’d heard about it.” He turned to Ban. “Why does somebody want to kill you?”

 

Ban turned to Vega, and spoke in English. “Why does this guy want to kill us and drink our blood, Vega?” He heard Arizumi translate a split second after he finished the question.

 

She had returned to her corner of the roof, and was wiping the tip of her dart. “Why do you think? He’s not a vampire. He does it because when he kills us, and drinks the blood, he assumes the curse directly, instead of it passing to someone else--don’t ask me how it works, I don’t know.”

 

That made Ban stand up a little straighter. “Assumes the curse--wait. You mean that he’s got the powers of _eighteen curses_? One guy has all that power?”

 

“Yes. And that’s why we didn’t kill you, you idiot. Because three is better than two.”

 

“How long has he been doing this?”

 

She shrugged. “Who knows? He has gotten ten this year.”

 

Ten in six months. Ban remembered learning to control his own powers. It had taken him years. He couldn’t imagine--wait.

 

“If he’s assuming these powers so quickly, how the hell does he have any control over them?”

 

“If I could tell you that, I would have met him. And if I’d met him, I’d be dead.” She stood up, and pointed at Shido. “Who is that? And why is he here? What was all that you just said?” She glared at Arizumi. “I’m paying you to translate for _me_ , not to translate everything I say to everyone else.”

 

Arizumi bowed and immediately apologized, and looked very much like he wished he could climb down the fire escape and . . . escape.

 

Ban sighed. God, he wanted to smoke. “He’s a friend of Ginji’s. He and Kazuki were looking for us, we were just talking about the love hotel business.”

 

Vega had the nerve to laugh. “Protective?”  
  
Ban did not clench his jaw. He rolled his eyes, and managed not to make it look overly forced. “By the way, you have a tranquilizer dart sticking out of your braid.”

 

“Oh?” She snatched her hair around and plucked the device out. After a few moment’s examination, she frowned.

 

On the street, wheels squealed right in front of their building.

 

The fire escape clanged. Sounded like more than one person

 

Everyone glanced that way, and when they did, a faint thumping noise came from behind the small door that gave access to the roof from the interior of the building. A moment later, bells jingled and thread wound itself around the door, tying it closed. At least that was taken care of for the immediate moment.

 

“How’d they find us so fast?” Ban growled, measuring the distances between rooftops. Most of them would make the jump to the next roof over---except for the translator, but they wouldn’t kill him, right? Ban wasn’t sure.

 

“We have to go!” Ginji headed straight for the fire escape, fingers glowing slightly. Before anyone could say or do anything, Ginji had put his hands down on the metal ladder where it led up to the roof, and sent a current into it.

 

There came the distinct sound of people collapsing and teeth snapping together on the fire escape, then nothing, when Ginji pulled his hands up. From further down the roof, Shido looked down.

 

“That got the ones on the escape, but there’s two at the bottom still awake.”

 

Vega barely waited for the translation before snarling and pushing past Ginji to launch herself down the fire escape.

 

“Don’t kill them!” That was Ginji, of course.

 

Vega ignored him, not that she could understand him, and kept going. Which only made Ginji start to launch himself right after her to make her understand. Which only made Ban dart forward and pull Ginji back.

 

“Ban-chan, she’ll kill them!” Ginji started to go again.  
  
"They have guns, Ginji!” Ban held him back again. Only one thing to do, really, and that was to follow himself. Bullets probably wouldn’t be stopped (despite what action movies said) by the metal of the fire escape, but tranq darts probably would. And he was fast.

 

So Ban went, and by that time, Vega had already made it down three stories. She’d stepped on some of the assassins on the way down, apparently. By the time she’d got within a safe distance to the ground to jump, Ban wasn’t low enough to land and immediately dodge. Not striking for immediate killing blows had its disadvantages; it was slower, even if there were only two enemies. Out of options. Leaning over the railing, he jerked back to avoid taking a dart to the face.

 

He’d only do this kind of thing for Ginji. Seriously. He managed to make eye contact with the two remaining guys.

 

A few seconds later, Vega landed between the two men. They’d both fallen over, fully believing that that they’d blurred through the rest of the day and were laying down to sleep that night. She glared up, looking maliciously disappointed, then started to rifle through the men’s pockets.

 

Ban straightened up and leaned back against the wall of the building. One deep breath. Then, “Oi, Ginji. Come on.”

 

Ginji’s head poked over the edge of the roof. “It’s okay, Ban-chan?” He sounded like he already knew it was. Maybe Ban was wrong about that. Why would he ask if he already knew?

 

“Yeah, it’s fine. If we hurry,” Ban called back up, and started down the escape. When he got close enough, he jumped down.

 

“What did you do?” Vega demanded, her English starting to accent.

 

“Knocked them out,” Ban replied flatly, reaching into his pocket. Still no cigarettes in it.

 

“I should kill them just to spite you.”

 

“I’d stop you.”

 

“Why? Afraid your Zeus wouldn’t approve?” Vega grinned, showing her teeth.

 

He hadn’t been expecting that. Ban tried to cover by shoving his glasses further up his nose. “Do you _want_ to fight me? Is that what you’re going for?”

 

She laughed. Brightly. Like a young teenager. “I win.”

 

Ban just looked at her. “You’re insane.”

 

Vega tapered her laugh down to a giggle. “We should leave. Tell them to hurry or to go away.” She nodded her head a little towards the fire escape, then started towards the back of the alley, presumably to check for any other hostiles.

 

Barely five seconds later, Ginji had hopped down to the ground. “Kazuki put more thread on the door but they’re starting to break it down we thought thank you, Ban-chan, for not letting her kill anyone!” Before Ban could react, Ginji hugged him enthusiastically, then continued on. “Did you have to use the Jagan it looked like you did?”

 

“Yeah,” Ban went about straightening his glasses and shrugging. By this time a shaky looking Arizumi was clumsily climbing down into the alley itself. Monkey Trainer was already down and Thread Spool was being ever so polite in instructing Arizumi to jump down, that it would be fine. “Your friends need to go, Ginji, and fast, if they don’t want to get caught up in this.”

 

Ginji looked like he wanted to argue about something, but he seemed to change his mind about it. “They know that, Ban-chan.”

 

Which translated to: ‘They’re coming anyway.’

 

“Chh,” Ban frowned slightly, then decided he didn’t feel like arguing either. “Let’s go, already.”

 

A crashing noise from up on the roof---the door being busted through, had to be---punctuated his words. They went.

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

“Ban-chan, are we going somewhere or are we just going?” Ginji finally asked. He was glad to get away from all that back there---it was bad that Ban-chan had to use the Jagan, but good that Ban-chan did and saved those two guys. But now they were walking through more alleys and across streets, very fast now that they’d stopped running. Arizumi was all out of breath, which couldn’t be fun.

 

“We’re just going. But not for much longer,” Ban-chan glared a little at Vega’s back. She was walking a few feet in front of them, but she kept looking around and towards them and towards Kazuki and Shido, who were behind Ginji.

 

Ginji thought it was good that they were there. They’d help. Ban-chan must have thought so, too, otherwise he would have argued more about them coming. Sometimes it bothered Ginji that Ban-chan always referred to everyone as “Ginji’s friends” like they’d all be enemies if it wasn’t for Ginji. Annnnnd Ginji didn’t think that’s the way things were---though they kind of used to be but that was before---but he had no idea how to say that and not get argued around, so he figured he’d just wait and things would be okay. Sometimes that worked. Even if Ban-chan was really stubborn.

 

Ban-chan started talking to Vega, then, and the group paused. At the end of the wide alley there was a busy street, and the buildings on either side didn’t have windows or fire escapes coming down.

 

After a moment, Arizumi started to summarize what was being said: They were going because they had to get away (already knew that though) and there wasn’t a destination (knew that too) and that they had probably been tracked to the rooftop so quickly because the dart that had been caught in Vega’s hair---oh yeah, she’d been looking at that on the roof before---had had a very small tracking device in the dart. Ginji didn’t know how that worked, but that was new information. And pretty bad but now that dart was gone, right? So that was good.

 

A cell phone started to ring, interrupting the conversation. Pockets got patted and there was checking but---oh someone was calling Vega. She didn’t say anything and started walking, passing by everyone and heading right towards the street.

 

“Where’s she going?” It seemed like the thing to ask, because she was certainly going somewhere.

 

“I don’t know,” Ban-chan stuck his hand in his pocket. They should probably find him some cigarettes soon. Then Ban-chan switched languages again, probably trying to find out---and Vega ignored him in favor of peeking out of the alley. Then she put her cell phone on the ground and took off running, to the left.

 

“What the hell? Stay here.” Ban-chan looked around the corner of the building, down the street in the direction Vega had vanished. He cursed sharply, and ran to follow her.

 

 

“Ban-chan!” Ginji started forward to go after him, but Shido put a hand on his arm and that made Ginji pause. By the time he pulled his arm away, Ban-chan and Vega were back, and Ban-chan was carrying Archer. Ginji didn’t think he’d ever seen somebody so white.

 

Vega was tense, wound tight, and it showed in her movements. She directed Ban-chan into the gap between two buildings, a little further down the alley, and he laid Archer on the ground there. Ginji, Shido, and Arizumi followed, waiting and watching.

 

In the alley, Kazuki picked up Vega’s cell phone and put it to his ear. “They’ve hung up.” He closed the phone and came to stand with the three of them.

 

Archer was looking at Vega, and he said something. Ban-chan stood up and looked down at them. Vega said something sharp, Ban-chan nodded, and turned to leave them alone.

 

Why weren’t they doing anything? “We should call an ambulance, Ban-chan!”

 

Ban-chan just shook his head, and walked down the alley, away from the street. Vega’s glares prompted the others to follow him.

 

Ginji hurried to stand in front of Ban-chan and look at him. “Why aren’t we calling an ambulance! Archer-san needs help! Ban-chan!”

 

“They drained him, Ginji. It’s his choice.” Ban-chan patted his pockets. “My fucking cigarettes . . .”

 

“Oh!” Arizumi drew a pack from his pocket and offered Ban-chan one. Ban-chan took it, lit it with that special silver lighter he carried, and inhaled. A moment later, the smoke came out, and made Ginji’s eyes water even though Ban-chan turned his head so he wasn’t breathing on Ginji. Or maybe it wasn’t the smoke, maybe it was being sad for poor Archer-san. Nobody deserved to die like that.

 

“Why’d they give him back?” It was Kazuki.

 

Ban-chan snorted a little laugh, and it came out in smoke. “He likes to complete the myths. In the myth, the scorpion killed Orion. So he gave Orion back, barely alive, knowing Vega would kill him.”

 

Kazuki blinked. “So how did Asclepius die?”

 

Ban-chan took another drag and that was it for the cigarette. He didn’t answer.

 

Vega did, wiping her mouth with a handkerchief, but clipping English words out anyway.

 

What she said made Ban-chan stand up straight and yell at her, and Ban-chan sounded _mad_. Mad in the way Ban-chan rarely got, the kind of scary mad that made even Ginji tense and wary. Most people with a sense of self-preservation would be wary of Ban-chan, when he sounded like that. Ban-chan stalked towards Vega, and Vega just grinned with her sharp teeth.

 

Kazuki, fingers twitching towards his bells, said to Arizumi, “What did she say?”

 

Arizumi said, “She said ‘the emperor of the gods--“

 

“Shut _up_!” Ban-chan whirled to face Arizumi.

 

But Arizumi finished anyway, all in a rush. “’--killed Asclepius with a lightning bolt.’”

 

Wow, Ginji thought. And the world felt small and like it was crushing his chest. He didn’t like it.

 

“The emperor of the gods . . . " Shido looked from Ban-chan to Ginji.

 

Ginji just looked at Ban-chan, who looked at the sky, and he looked so angry or maybe a little sad.

 

Ginji remembered meeting Ban-chan. How Ban-chan had come looking for him, for Raitei, the Thunder Emperor.

 

Vega said something else. Ban-chan turned and said something back and this time nobody asked Arizumi to translate. Ban-chan’s hands were in fists so tight his arms were shaking, but he didn’t punch Vega, and that was good, Ginji thought, because if he punched Vega like this he might kill her.

 

Instead, Ban-chan punched the wall beside him so hard bricks cracked and plaster made the air dusty. Then he straightened, pushed his glasses higher on his nose, and walked away from her with his hands in his pockets.

 

He did not look at Ginji.

 

Ban-chan.

 

Kazuki put a hand on Ginji’s shoulder, giving him a sad sort of look, and Ginji realized he’d said that out loud. So he said it again, “ _Ban-chan_.”

 

It was all he could manage at the moment. He was still reeling.

 

If the emperor of the gods had killed Asclepius--

 

With lightning--

 

And Ban-chan was Asclepius and knew all that--

 

Then why did Ban-chan come looking for Raitei?

 

Ginji said, “Ow.”

 

And then he ran after Ban-chan.

 

|<>|

 

He shouldn’t have been surprised. Ginji hugged him from behind, so forcefully that he almost knocked Ban over. Only the sound of his approaching, rapid footsteps had given Ban any warning.

 

Ginji squeezed.

 

“You’re crushing my ribs, Ginji.” Ban put his hands on Ginji’s arms, but not to push him away.

 

“ _Ban-chan_.”

 

Ban sighed. He wasn’t getting out of this hug any time soon.

 

But they needed to go. So Ban took Ginji’s hand in his own and tugged a little, and Ginji went with the motion and let go slowly. Ban turned to face him. Ginji’s face was confused and hurt and earnest and there was something else there and it was _all_ directed at Ban.

 

It was humbling. He dropped his eyes.

 

“It’s not a big deal. Just didn’t want her to upset you, is all.”

 

“ _Ban-chan_. I--“

 

Vega was coming. She snapped in English. “Break it up, boys. Let’s go.”

 

“Don’t you fucking _push me_ , Vega.” Ban really, really wanted to punch her. He wanted to wipe that smirk--that one, the one she shot him just then--off her arrogant face. But Ginji was holding on to him still and Arizumi shot out a translation.

 

Ginji loosened his grip, just enough for Ban to pull away, but Ginji’s posture made it clear that Ginji wasn’t going to leave Ban’s side just yet. Ban started walking, Ginji barely a step behind.

 

Vega was _still_ smirking.

 

“Ban.” Kazuki, coming towards them, frowning. “How did they know to drop Archer’s body just there? How have they been finding us?”

 

“I don’t know, I’m not a fucking psychic. Maybe one of the constellations he already killed was a precognitive or something--“

 

“There was a tracker on the dart,” Vega said in English. Still smirking. Arizumi must have translated for her when Ban wasn’t listening. “We were probably just close enough to where I dropped it that they felt confident in dumping Archer. No more tracker, though. We can go to ground for a while.”

 

Ban translated that.

 

Kazuki thought for a minute, then, “If we go just a few blocks that way, we’ll be just outside Mugenjou. Less people there, lots of abandoned buildings. We should be safe there.”

 

Ban translated, again, even if he really didn’t feel motivated to do a damn thing for Vega.

 

“Mugenjou?” Vega snapped out. “What’s that? I haven’t heard of that district.”

 

Arizumi was looking a little nervous.

 

“It’s just a neighborhood,” Ban told her. She’d just have to deal with it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

 

They’d managed to find a building, with only one pitted wall and most of its windows. At one point, it was probably intended to be a warehouse, but now the building was just a few walls and a convenient place to hole up. Ban would be surprised if someone didn’t show up around nightfall, looking for a place to sleep.

 

Vega had glared at the rising collection of towering buildings of Mugenjou as they approached it. Evidently she’d figured out which “neighborhood” it was, and wasn’t happy about it, even if she most likely had no idea about how dangerous Mugenjou really could be.

 

At least she wasn’t complaining vocally. She only kept wiping at her mouth.

 

So while Mugenjou loomed outside the window, the sun started to set, and they waited. Monkey Trainer had wandered outside--probably looking over the area or talking to rats or something. Thread Spool was having a quiet conversation with the translator, Arizumi--probably getting all sorts of random information out of the guy.

 

“Ne, Ban-chan, are we just going to sit here all night? Are we going to sleep in shifts? Are we going to move somewhere else when it gets completely dark?” Ginji bounced up on his toes. He hadn’t sat down since they’d arrived. Ban hadn’t either, as an indirect result.

 

“Maybe, probably, and maybe,” Ban leaned against the wall, hands in his pockets.

 

“Oh, okay,” Ginji fidgeted.

 

Ban waited a few moments. Then he counted to thirty. Ginji was still fidgeting. “What is it?” Ban asked. It was obviously something.

 

“Nothing!”

 

Unless it wasn’t.

 

“Well . . . “ Ginji continued a bare second later, leaning sideways against the wall near Ban, then immediately pushing off again with his shoulder. Lean, push. Lean, push. “I think we should move.”

 

That made Ban reach over and stop Ginji from pushing away from the wall again. “Why?”

 

“I don’t know,” Ginji shifted from foot to foot, but he didn’t push away from the wall or dislodge Ban’s hand.

 

“You don’t know why you want to move to somewhere else?” Ban waited for Ginji to nod. “I can think of a few reasons.”

 

“Well yeaaaah, but it’s none of the reasons like having been chased and followed and stuff,” Ginji pressed his lips together. “Hmm. I just don’t think staying in one place is a good thing. At least not here . . . “

 

Ban finally moved his hand from Ginji’s shoulder to rub the back of his own neck.

 

“Ban-chan, you’ve been doing that a lot,” Ginji stepped closer and was suddenly very much hovering. “Let me see okay maybe it still feels weird that’s where the dart hit you huh?”

 

There’d obviously be no escape, Ginji was determined. Ban groused a little, sighed, and moved away from the wall and turned slightly so Ginji could see. “Yeah. I guess it’s tender, like after getting a shot that hurts.”  
  
Ginji’s fingertips poked carefully at the spot. "Oh, okay, that makes sense,” he paused. “Ban-chan something’s weird.”

 

“What is it, Ginji? And don’t say that you don’t know,” Ban grumped slightly.

 

“It’s something electric and small. Want me to make it not electric anymore?” Ginji sounded as though he were going to do it anyway. “I’ll be really careful because it’s right here near your brain and stuff but this thing really shouldn’t be here!”

 

“What the hell do you mean something small and electric--shit! Ginji, get it _now.”_ The darts. They had trackers in them, why the hell hadn’t he realized that?

 

Ban’s teeth snapped together, an involuntary reaction to the current that just ran along the back of his neck. It was a miracle he hadn’t been knocked unconscious. Or maybe not, since it was Ginji who did it.

 

“Got it! Are you okay, Ban-chan?” Ginji patted at Ban’s neck.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he was already turning around, snagging Ginji’s arm, and pulling him towards where Thread Spool and the interpreter were sitting. “We have to go.”

 

“Why?”  
  
"Remember, there was a tracker in the dart that got caught in Vega’s hair, which means there’s been a tracker in the back of my neck this whole fucking time,” Ban said, loudly enough that Thread Spool was already standing before they even took another step.

 

“Idiot!” That was Vega. “How could you not realize?!”

 

Before Ban had a chance to respond, a shape moved outside one of the windows, just fast enough to be someone moving quickly, but not fast enough to be someone running. Ban’s head turned slightly in that direction, Ginji’s turned completely, and the room was quiet, except for the faint jingle of one of Thread Spool’s bells.

 

If someone was outside, then their sudden silence was a sure indication that whoever it was had been heard. Great.

 

Ban didn’t have time to consider that for more than a moment before a small canister was lobbed through one of the broken windows and into the middle of their group. Ban drew his leg back to kick it the hell away when a flash of string stole the canister away and flung it back out the window. It barely made it through before the canister let out a greater spurt of gas.

 

Ban decided not to worry about how stupid he looked with his foot whiffing air, and turned to get some cover nearer to a crate. Ginji went with him, and everyone else went different ways. Outside the window, gas poured up, obscuring the view out. Another canister flew into the room from a different window entirely, and it got dealt with the same way, a whisk of thread. But even as the canister went flying, people in black, with gas masks and goggles, burst into the warehouse from all four walls.

 

It could be worse, they didn’t have anything other than dart guns drawn and ready. How the hell did they get surrounded so quickly? Wasn’t Monkey Trainer out there fiddling around? Well these bastards were professionals, probably, and they had thought they were safe. Careless. Dammit. But there wasn’t time to worry about that--

 

“Come out, or we’ll just gas you all.” The voice was loud, sounded foreign, and wasn’t messing around.

 

The goggles the bastards were wearing---They were clear. Ban stood up, and started looking around. He stole eye contact from anyone he could take it from, and hoped those two he’d left sleeping in the alley weren’t among them. He supposed he’d find out if anything went wrong.

  
Jagan.

 

Most of them fell down, sleeping. Ban believed in simplicity sometimes, and they all thought the day was passed and they were asleep. Same dream from earlier, but that was _twice_ today. That wasn’t good.

 

Those left standing--two groups of four men, and a couple of stragglers in between--didn’t hesitate to raise their guns and fire, even as their buddies were falling into sleeping lumps. Fortunately, at least, they weren’t firing bullets. Just the darts again.

 

Ban ran in one direction, going with all his speed toward the nearest straggler. Ban didn’t really like the idea of using a human shield, but he damn well couldn’t afford to be hit by a dart. None of them could, not at this point. Ban punched the man in the jaw and held him up by his collar.

 

He could hear muffled thumps as darts landed in the man’s back, a quick series of noises that drew the man’s breath into a deep sigh of easy unconsciousness. As soon as the thumps stopped, a bare second later, Ban threw the guy at the group who’d been firing at him, tearing the dart gun out of the man’s hands to use himself.

 

Over the sound of the fight, Ban could distinctly hear pained gurgling sounds. Vega’s poison, probably, but he wasn’t going to bother looking just yet.

 

Ban darted for a crate to use as cover, firing the dart gun at the group he’d just tossed the man at. He managed to get two while they were stumbling, and aimed for a third who’d turned his head to fire in a different direction. As Ban reached cover, that man fell, too.

 

To the left of him, he heard Vega curse. She’d found cover of her own and had been throwing her own darts, doubtlessly poisoned. Those gurgling sounds. Ginji was going to be upset.

 

Three enemies standing now: one left from the group Vega’d been attacking, the straggler Ban hadn’t used as a meat shield, and the one guy he hadn’t managed to get with his subsequent half-assed dart shooting.

 

In the end, it only took one of them to get the job done. A dart hit Vega in her temple as she poked her head up to aim. Before she could even blink, she was falling forward gracelessly.

 

Ginji ran towards Vega, the concerned little idiot he was. Where the hell was Kazuki? Ban couldn’t hear bells anymore.

 

Ban saw the dart hit Ginji in the leg--just through his shorts and into the flesh beneath--and in the next step, Ginji collapsed.

 

_Thunk_.

 

Ban slapped at his shoulder, knocked the dart out. All he could do was hope that he’d gotten it out before . . .

 

He was out.

 

|<>|

 

Ban woke somewhere else. His mouth was dry and his head hurt, just like last time he’d been hit with a damn dart. He was not restrained, and he seemed to be alone. The walls were steel, there were no windows, and he’d been deposited on a bed. Something scurried along one wall and Ban sat up slowly.

 

They hadn’t even taken his lighter.

 

Ban stood, careful, and went toward the door of the little room. Whoever had put him here without restraints, without even being watched--they’d underestimated him. Ban was going to punch and pound on the people who’d done this.

 

God, they had Ginji, too.

 

If Ginji were hurt, Ban might just kill all of them. There was something black and ominous in his belly, and he didn’t know if it were rage or worry, but if Ginji had been hurt (he would not be killed, no, absolutely not, not Ginji), he knew he would be homicidal. He should have made Ginji stay out of this when it started.

 

Footsteps.

 

Ban clenched his hands into fists and he was going to charge whoever it was the moment they stepped through the door--

 

 

Wait. What? That didn’t make sense. Ban had been captured, hadn’t he? If so, why was Shido here, why was there a mouse on Shido’s shoulder?

 

“You’re awake. Good.”

 

Ban’s heart was beating a little too fast. His head was pounding. Ginji.

 

“You’ve been out for six hours. Kazuki just woke up about five minutes ago.”

 

Why was Shido telling him about Kazuki? Ban didn’t care about Kazuki! “Where’s Ginji?”

 

Shido put his hands in his pockets. “He was taken. Him and the foreign woman.”

 

Ban shook his head, just once. He took control of the worry and the fear and forced it to become determination. He set his jaw and--ah, there were his glasses. He put them on and pushed them high on his nose. “Then I’m just going to have to get him back.”

 

“We don’t know where he is.”

 

“I’ll find him. I’m his partner.” He paused. “And what’s this ‘we’ shit? Who invited you?” It crossed Ban’s mind that Ginji would be very sad if Kazuki or Shido got hurt trying to rescue him.

 

Bells chimed, and Kazuki came to stand in the door beside Shido.

 

“You only have one Jagan left, Ban.” Kazuki spoke softly and what he said was reasonable. But Ban didn’t want reason, goddammit, he wanted his partner. His hands tightened into fists again.

 

“Are you saying you want me to just _leave him?”_

 

“Of course not.” Patient voice.

 

Ban didn’t want patience. He wanted screaming and flying punches and cracked bones and bleeding. He wanted to inflict violence.

 

Kazuki continued. “But you don’t know where he is, or what you’re up against. You’ve got one Jagan. You aren’t in great condition. We care about Ginji, too, and we will help you find him and retrieve him.” He paused. “I know you’re used to fighting with Ginji at your back, but this time you’ll settle for us.”

 

Ban scowled. He was going to punch that arrogant, patronizing face of Kazuki’s, he was going to do it right now, and--

 

The cell phone in his pocket rang.

 

Ban hissed, irritated and angry and he intended to throw the damn cell phone right out the window or maybe crush it in his fist. That would feel good. But the number flashing on the screen--the number calling his phone--was Ginji’s.

 

Ban thought his heart might have stopped in his chest. He clawed the phone open and pressed it to his ear---maybe Ginji had gotten away---maybe he’d gotten lost after the fight---no sense of direction. Ban could almost hear it Ginji’s sheepish voice, “Please come find me, Ban-chan . . .”

 

But it was just a text message.

 

TURN ON GPS. SIX HOURS OR AMANO DIES.

 

Ban refrained from crushing the phone only because the GPS was on it and that was the way to Ginji. The plastic still groaned under the pressure for a moment. He put the phone away and curled his hand into a fist. Fingernails digging into his palm and white knuckles. Then he took the phone right back out again. He was going to need it.

 

Why did they take Ginji? Ban had been unconscious. Ban had been hit with a dart, ready for the kidnapping and draining and whatever the fuck. _Why didn’t they leave Ginji?_

. . . The bastard who was doing this had been trying to replicate the mythology behind the curses’ figures. Zeus killed Asclepius. Asclepius killed the scorpion. Surely the bastard wasn’t trying to get him to kill Vega, and then get Ginji to kill him?

  
That was just ridiculous.

 

Regardless of the reasoning the bastard may or may not have---there was no way this wasn’t a trap. But it wasn’t one Ban could ignore. The fucker had _his Ginji_.

 

“Snake bastard.”

 

“What?” The word might as well have been spit.

 

“Who called?”

 

Ban looked over at the damn Monkey Trainer. The mouse on Shido’s shoulder had crawled around to hide behind his neck, and when Ban looked, the mouse darted under the collar of Shido’s shirt.

 

“Text message. They’ve got a trap, we’ve got six hours to get to it or Ginji dies. They turned the GPS on his phone on.” Yeah. We. Whatever. Ginji’s damn friends could come along if they were that desperate to be stupid. Besides, if this was a trap and Ban got caught---big if’s, or maybe not---then someone would have to try and find Ginji.

 

“Then--" Thread Spool started to talk again.

 

Ban cut him off. “Where’s Arizumi--that translator guy. I’m stealing his cigarettes and then we’re going.”

 

“He left. After helping drag you and Kazuki here, he called someone. Said something about it not being worth the connections, then was picked up by some yakuza looking types,” Shido said.   


“Fine, whatever.” That was just great. “Let’s go.”

 

Ban pushed through the doorway and started out, not even bothering to pay attention to the building or whether Ginji’s damn friends were following him or not.

 

They could stop on the way, if he had enough money. Vending machines were everywhere. Damn nicotine. Slowing him down and bothering him when he didn’t have it. Maybe he should quit after this. Maybe he should stop fucking overanalyzing, get the damn smokes, and have one on the way. From the looks of the GPS, they’d have to get out of Shinjuku and head to a business district. He could drive and smoke. Problem solved.

 

By this time, he’d left the building---they’d been on the very close outskirts of Mugenjou---and had veered back towards the general direction of the hospital they’d taken Archer to early that day. Wait, that was technically “yesterday” by now, since it was after midnight. Who cared. Ban started running, a fast jog.

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

A little over ninety minutes later, after Ban’s driving had become less needlessly dangerous and the air in the 360 had turned hazy with cigarette smoke, they were idling in front of a tall office building.

 

“This is the place.” Though it wasn’t really necessary to say. It was obvious that the GPS centered here, because he’d stopped.

 

Without even bothering to say anything else, Ban got out of the car and looked up. Ginji was up. Just had a feeling. He bet Ginji was on the top floor, even. Never mind, he was sure of it.

 

On the other side of the car, from where Ginji normally would be getting out, Thread Spool had coughed lightly, and the damn Monkey Trainer was apparently crouched down and talking to some animal. Ban snorted, locked his door, and rounded the 360 to go in the front door.

 

He was expected, after all. If the bastard were just going to shoot him full of tranquilizer darts as soon as he stepped inside, then the bastard wouldn’t have taken Ginji.

 

However, this did not mean that he actually expected the big, main glass doors to be unlocked. Ban looked through his glasses inside, but there were no lasers that he could see. No people, either. Why not?

 

“Walking right in?” That was Monkey Trainer.

 

“What’s it look like?” Ban opened the door. He counted to five. Nothing happened. Walking into the lobby didn’t make anything happen, either. Stairs. Like hell he’d be taking the elevator.

 

Crossing the lobby’s floor was quiet, except for Thread Spool’s damn loud bells. There had to be a stairwell around here somewhere. Back out of reception, obviously, so that’s where Ban had headed. And there it was.

 

And that’s where they got attacked for the first time. People in black popped out from under desks and from around corners. None of them were wearing goggles, which seemed pretty damn stupid, after the Jagan Ban had used last time. But then, those guys had clear goggles. Random thoughts while he punched and knocked people unconscious.

 

 

If the bastard knew about the curses, then he knew about the Jagan the whole time. The bastard had gotten eighteen cursed people before Ban even knew the bastard was out there.

 

Which meant that sending troops with clear goggles hadn’t been a mistake.

 

 

The bastard had been goading him to use the Jagan. Well hell if Ban was going to fall into that trap again. He only had one left, and there was no way he was wasting it. And eventually all these bastards would fall.

 

The first fight had ended almost as soon as it had begun, people in black knocked out or threaded up into bundles. The ambush hadn’t had dart guns, they’d just had hand to hand weapons.

 

It was going to be a long trip to the top.

 

They’d get there, though.

 

Four hours and twenty-five hours left.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Thirty-nine floors worth of stairs, more than an hour, and a lot of fighting later, put Ban staring at the door to the fortieth floor.  He was damn sure that Ginji was somewhere on this floor.  The top of the building.  Ban was absolutely positive of it.  Good thing that Monkey Trainer and Thread Spool hadn’t asked him just _why_ he was so sure.  Ban wouldn’t have been able to tell them.

 

After listening for a moment, Ban opened the door.  As they’d traveled up the stairwell, nearly every floor had guys waiting, bursting out of the doors or already standing on the stairs, ready to fight. 

 

Every single hired goon had been lacking any covering for their eyes, all but confirming Ban’s suspicion.  Like hell he used it, though.  Only one Jagan left.

 

The thirty-ninth floor hadn’t been bristling with hired goons, and neither had this one, the fortieth. 

 

Beyond the door was just an ordinary hallway, like would be expected in any office building.  The hallway was slightly narrow, and led to the immediate left, back towards where the elevator shafts were located.  About half that actual distance, as far as Ban could tell relatively, the hallway ended with a glass door.

 

Things were still quiet, just footsteps and Thread Spool’s damn bells, so Ban led the way through the bare room on the other side of that glass door.  Beyond that room was a sort of lounge.  A couple of vending machines quietly hummed against one wall.  Sitting on a small stool, sipping some sort of drink, was a young Japanese man.  A change from half the foreign hired guys who’d been attacking them.

 

“You are expected,” the man said, standing up and bowing a little.  He made eye contact with Ban before nodding politely at Kazuki and Shido.  “Please follow me.”

 

Ban did not punch the guy’s nose off his face.  “Where?”

 

“Please, it’s not far.  And you will see Amano when we get there.”  The man turned, putting his cup down on a low table, and then started towards the only other door in the room besides the one they’d come in through.

 

“Walk faster,” Ban growled.  Fine, he’d go.  That’s what he came here for.  And then he’d make that bastard pay, somehow.  There’d be a way.  After he got Ginji back.

 

“Please excuse my rudeness,” the man said.  He actually hurried, even if he didn’t sound at all sorry.

 

A room and a short hallway later, and the man opened a door labeled “gallery.”  He set a door jamb to hold the door open and continued through. 

 

The gallery was apparently a very wide, long hallway, all fancy marble and high ceilings, stark whites mixed with creamy colors.  Lining the walls through the walkway were display columns, each holding some sort of statue.

 

That was it, though.  The bareness on the walls and the floors somehow felt blank enough that it was obviously set up to display the luxury of wasted space.  Not that Ban cared, but something had seemed a little off when the door opened. 

 

It took him only a step into the hallway gallery itself to realize why. 

 

Each of the statues depicted what could be someone cursed by a constellation.  There was an older woman holding a pair of scales, smiling sedately.  Another statue was a young man holding an imaginary foe back with a shield.  A young woman holding a cup out.  A younger looking girl holding some sort of flower, looking like innocence frozen or something like that.  Each wore different kinds of clothing from different parts of the world.

 

And each one had a dark red smear on their respective foreheads.  Dried blood.

 

The one carved to look like Archer was smirking, in a suit and holding a gun.  It had a brighter stain. 

 

Vega’s was right after Archer’s.  A smile on her face, the armor on her fingers.  No bloodstain on her forehead yet.

 

And of course, the statue carved in Ban’s likeness---complete with a smirk and little sunglasses---was unstained.  It looked like it had been carved recently, it had to have been.  It looked how he looked in the mirror that morning.  The statue was even wearing nearly the same outfit.

 

Ban scowled, ignored stupid Monkey Trainer and Thread Spool glancing at each other, and glared at their guide. 

  
The man had stopped and was waiting patiently, hand resting on the handle of the large wooden door at the end of the hallway, just a couple meters away.

 

“What the hell are you waiting for?  Open it.”

 

Why the fuck was the guy constantly pausing and waiting?  He should just keep damn well moving.

 

“Of course, please excuse my hesitation.”

 

The man opened the door, and then Ban wasn’t paying attention to him anymore.  Beyond the door was a large, mostly empty rectangular room.  The ceiling was high, with skylights, and the floor was tiled with large marble slabs.  The long sides of the room were to the left and right, and the farthest wall was all glass, mirroring with the night behind it.

 

At the farthest wall, on the right, Vega was lying face down on a marble slab that matched the tiles in the floor.  Another large slab was held, apparently balanced, above her.  She was glaring and literally muzzled, and tied down with metal restraints.

 

In the middle of the room, a small white table had a clear container full of something bright red.  Blood?

  
But Ban wasn’t really looking at those things, even though he did notice them.

 

Ban was looking at the other far corner.

 

Ginji was there.  He was sitting cross-legged and---

 

Ginji was in what looked remarkably like a large glass container.  A jar.   The jar had no apparent holes for air, and the top was sealed with a lid.  Attached to the lid and extending partially into the jar itself was what must have been a rubber-lined tube, because that’s definitely what it looked like.  The tube ran up to a square control panel that was attached to the side of the jar.

 

A tall foreign-looking blond man, elevated by a small marble platform, stood beside the jar and tapped his fingers on the control panel.  He wore mirrored sunglasses, and grinned widely as he looked at Ban.

 

It had to be the bastard.

 

In the jar, Ginji was smacking his fists against the glass, apparently yelling, but very little sound was making it through.

 

Ban strode forward, in two steps overtaking the man who’d led them to the room, and ran straight at the sunglasses-wearing _bastard_ who’d---a slab of marble shifted under Ban’s leading foot, making a deep scratching sound.  Immediately he stepped back and looked for something to swing up and hit him. 

  
But nothing did.  Instead, in the corner, the marble slab tipped off its careful balance.  It fell on Vega with a sickening thump and a loud crunch.

 

“And Asclepius stepped on the scorpion, Orion’s killer.  Well done,” the blond man had started laughing.  His Japanese was accented slightly, but Ban couldn’t tell with what.  

 

Ban stared at the slab of marble over Vega, and that’s all he did for a full few seconds.  There was no way she could have survived that.  Ban had--no.  Ban had been set up to complete the myth.  And now it was done.  All that was left . . . was Asclepius. 

 

It was an effort, moving his eyes away from the slab.  But he did, and then he started forward again, moving towards the glass jar . . . the bastard was right _there_. 

 

Ginji was a hostage. There would be no traps in the floor to kill Ginji.  The bastard had to know Ban well enough to know that if Ginji died, and Ban still had breath in his body, Ban would tear the person responsible limb from limb.  He had to know that.  Ban was betting on it. 

 

Ginji was beating the glass and yelling again, but his voice was still too muffled to make out.    But for the moment, Ban’s eyes were on the bastard, on the control panel. 

 

The bastard was still grinning, and he tipped his head forward a little.  “I am so pleased you accepted my invitation.  I was beginning to think you wouldn’t make it.”

 

Ban didn’t answer.  He stopped about ten meters from the jar and glared.  All he could see was his own reflection in the sunglasses--had they slipped a little?  Ban kept his eyes on the bastard and took another step closer.

 

“Ah-ah-ah--You’ll want to be careful.  You see the tube here?  Are you familiar with the effects of nerve gas?”  Everything about the man oozed confidence, from the expensive suit to the designer watch, to the casual way he kept his hand steady over the control panel.

 

Ban grit his teeth and stood his ground.  He wanted to kill this man.

 

The bastard tossed something small towards Ban.  Ban caught it in one hand and looked at it--a syringe.  “Fill it with blood, then toss it back.”  Ban’s eyes narrowed and he--

 

The bastard’s sunglasses _were_ slipping.  Ban felt a rush of something in his chest--this was a chance, if he could get the bastard’s eyes, they would win--that was why the bastard had tempted him, tried to get him to use the Jagan.  The realization came to Ban in the space of a second, and he hoped he had enough control to keep it off his face.  If the bastard realized his glasses were slipping, he’d fix it.  Then there’d be nothing Ban could do, and very likely, they would all die here. 

 

So he dropped his eyes to the syringe in his hand.  Why hadn’t the bastard drunk Vega’s blood already?  Why would he leave it there, in the middle of the room like that, where they could knock it over, destroy it, instead of just drinking it?

 

Vega.  Scorpio.  Poison.

 

Asclepius was a healer.

 

If there was poison in her spit, and in her sweat . . . then it was probably in her veins, too.

 

Was Ban’s blood was the antidote?

 

That had to be the answer.  It had to be.

 

That’s why the bastard was waiting.

 

Ban looked back up at him.  Those glasses.  They just needed to slip, just a little bit more, and he’d have eye contact.  To do that, he needed to stall.  So, he thumped the big vein in his left arm and pulled the cap off the syringe with his teeth.  The bastard grinned wider for a moment, and when the grin relaxed slightly . . . the glasses slid down.

 

Their eyes met, and the bastard’s eyes widened just a little.  Ban hoped he was realizing his mistake.  In fact, Ban wove it into the dream he gave the man, and even as the Jagan took hold, he crossed the distance between them and punched.  The man went down under the first blow, still caught in the illusion.

 

Ban punched him again.  Once more.  That punch put blood on his knuckles.  His fist came down again, and stopped a hairsbreadth from the man’s face. 

 

Ban wasn’t going to kill him.  He wanted to, oh, he wanted to.  But there were more important things.  Ban stood up, pushed his glasses high on his nose.  Ban heard bells and Ginji pounding on the glass. 

 

Punching the bastard and making him bleed had not been nearly as satisfying as Ban had hoped it would be. 

 

He turned and looked at Kazuki, who had come to stand behind Ban.  “Make yourself useful and tie him up.” 

 

He ignored whatever Kazuki muttered at him and turned to the control panel.  Of course there’d be no button labeled “Let Ginji Out” . . . in fact, there were no labels on the control panel at all.  Ban frowned.  Well.  Looked like he’d have the opportunity to punch something hard, anyway.

 

He stepped away from the control panel and looked for a moment, making sure he wasn’t somehow inexplicably missing something.  Behind him, the bastard was tied and down.  Shido was still watching the lackey.

 

So when Shido yelled a warning, Ban spun in time to see the lackey pull a little . . . remote control? . . . from a pocket. 

 

“What the hell are you doing?”  Shido barked.  He was not unlike a dog sometimes.  Ginji had stopped banging on the glass now.  “Your boss is dead.  Just put that down and go home.”  And even though Shido didn’t say, “Or we’ll make you,” it was practically audible.

 

The lackey smiled.  “I’m sorry to disappoint you.  But he isn’t my superior.”

 

And Ban’s heart might have stopped beating.

 

He’d used his Jagan.  He’d used his Jagan and Ginji was still in that glass jar and that was a remote control in that man’s hand.

 

No, Ban’s heart was still beating.  Hard.  There was bile in the back of his throat.  How could he have been so _stupid_?  Somebody smart enough to get all those cursed people wouldn’t be stupid enough to let his glasses fall! 

 

Ban had been set up.  And he had walked _right into it_.

 

He spun fast and punched the glass jar, hard.  Hard enough to shatter normal _bricks_ , let alone glass, but this glass--

 

It didn’t even crack, and on the lid at the top, one of three little lights came on.

 

Three strikes, you’re out.

 

A countdown.  Simple.  Ban bet that when the last light turned on, gas would fill the jar.  It reminded Ban of kill jars, moths fluttering around a cotton ball soaked with alcohol.  He was sure it was intentional.  It was the kind of thing this guy would do, wasn’t it?  Set Ginji up like a lightning bug in a kill jar?  Yeah.  That was the kind of metaphor this bastard would like.

 

Ban didn’t think he could break this glass in three hits.  It wasn’t glass.  It was  . . . an alloy, or fiberglass, or really damn good bulletproof stuff.  Something.  It didn’t matter what it was.  Ban couldn’t get through it and Ginji was in there.

 

Ginji was looking at Ban.  Ginji’s eyes had never been that big or that sad before, and oh, Ban’s heart hurt.  He couldn’t think of a way to get out of this.  When that bastard got Ban’s blood, he’d drink it, then he’d drink Vega’s, and that would be that.  There was no way Ginji and Ginji’s friends would leave this building alive. 

 

Ginji didn’t deserve to die in a jar.  Ban put his hand carefully on the glass and met Ginji’s eyes.

 

One second.  Two.  Three.  And Ban got an idea.  A bad one, one that might just kill him, but---an idea.  Ginji’s eyes widened and he shook his head, even though there was no way that Ginji could know what Ban had in mind.  That just wasn’t possible.  But Ginji must have known it was going to be bad.

 

Ban stepped back and looked away, but not before he tapped the glass---very lightly---with his fingertips.  Sorry. 

 

The bastard---the real one---was checking his watch.  “Now, Mr. Midou, if you’d please cooperate, I’d have no reason to dispose of these others or Mr. Amano.  Please, go to the table where some of Miss Vega’s blood is, and look in the small drawer?  You’ll find fresh supplies for drawing out some of your blood.”

 

“What, you’re not just going to kill me and take it then?”  Ban stared at the man, not moving.

 

“Why would I do that?  I don’t even have to kill you to get what I want.  It’s just better that way,” the man ran his thumb along the remote.

 

“How’s it better?  Eliminate enemies?  How much blood do you need?”  Ban caught movement out of the corner of his eye, Kazuki’s wrist.  It probably wouldn’t do any good---after all, Ban knew he could beat Kazuki, and this guy had nineteen curses’ power in him.  But it might give just enough of a distraction for Ban to carry out his own plan---

 

Sure enough, the bastard just held out his hand, and the threads could be seen being thrown back, blocked. 

 

The bastard replied as though nothing had happened.  “Blood from a living heart, of course.  The larger quantity taken is just a luxury I indulge in.  At my age, I’m allowed such things, I believe.”

 

It was obviously bait, something more to fill the bastard’s ego.  Ban took it, buying time as he stepped towards the table, pretending he was playing along.  “How old are you, then?  Go ahead, you’re obviously dying to.”  Taking the bait did not mean Ban had to be polite about it.

 

“Eighty,” came the answer with a smile.  The bastard looked like he was in his twenties.  “The youth was from Virgo.”

 

Ban wanted to spit.  He reached into the drawer, and pulled out the long, large syringe that was waiting for him.  He looked up at the bastard.  “You really expect me to stick this in my heart?”

 

“Well, I could easily force you to.  That might be fun, actually,” the bastard smiled, still looking down at the remote.  “I’m sure you’ve figured it out by now.  I’d like your blood before I drink Miss Vega’s.  These curses have power, but they of course have their negative sides.  You understand.”

 

The bastard finally looked up, smiling and smug.  Confident that revealing that little bit of information wouldn’t hurt him at all.

 

The bastard even made eye contact.

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

Inside the jar, Ginji couldn’t hear much more than his own voice.  It was loud and he didn’t like it.  He couldn’t do anything to help, and that was much worse.

 

But he could see, at least.  Ginji watched Ban-chan take his glasses off.  His lips moved.

 

Kazuki and Shido both glanced at each other, then looked at Ban-chan.  They looked really shocked---and Ginji wanted to know why.  What had that dark settling in Ban-chan’s eyes meant?  Something had just happened, but Ginji didn’t know what.

 

But it was something that made his chest feel tight. 

 

Before Ginji could figure it out, the bad guy started towards Ban-chan.  He looked like he was laughing, and he put the little remote thing down. 

  
Ban-chan just stood there, watching.  And then the bad guy started to drink the red liquid--probably blood--from the container.  A moment later, the man started to gag, then fell to the floor.  His face looked strangely calm, even though it was turning purple.

 

That was the same way that other man had looked when Vega poisoned him.

 

Why did the bad guy drink the blood if it would kill him?

 

Before Ginji could wonder much longer, Ban-chan had blocked his view of the dying man.  Ginji was happy about that.  He didn’t want to watch the bad guy die.  Ginji smiled a little, a way of thanking Ban-chan because Ban-chan couldn’t hear him.

  
Ban-chan looked sad in a way that made Ginji put his hands on the glass.  Something was wrong. 

 

Ban-chan’s pupils were still slit.  But that wasn’t it.  What was---Ban-chan’s pupils were still slit from using the Jagan.

 

But Ban-chan had used it three times in the past day.  So he couldn’t have just used it again, right?  Ginji remembered once, asking Ban-chan why he could only use his Jagan the way he did.  Ban-chan just shrugged.  Ginji had asked again another time.  Ban-chan had said he didn’t know if he even could.  Then he changed the subject. 

 

Whatever was going to happen was going to be bad.

 

He looked at Ban-chan and watched him press his hands to the other side of the glass.  They looked at each other.

 

A minute wasn’t a long time, not really.  The top of the jar unsealed, and before Ginji could even start to climb out, the minute was over.

 

The first noise he heard was Ban-chan.  “Ginji--“

 

Ban-chan collapsed, his eyes rolling back in his head.

 

Then Ginji was up and out of the jar, not even knowing how he’d managed it.  He checked, and Ban-chan wasn’t breathing and his heart wasn’t beating---Ginji’s vision went watery, and he had to wipe his eyes.  He felt Kazuki put a hand on his shoulder, and he knew Shido was looking off to the side probably not knowing what to do, but none of that really mattered.

  
Ban-chan was dead.

 

There was no more _S_.

 

Ban-chan was dead.

 

Things still felt bad, but he couldn’t tell if that was because he was so sad about Ban-chan being dead, or if it was because he felt bad about getting caught and being a hostage in that jar, or if it was everything all together. 

 

Ginji couldn’t think about it too much.  He just felt like the tightness in his chest had burst all over the place.

 

Then Ban-chan moved.

 

Ginji wiped his face again and paid attention.  That didn’t make any sense---had he made a mistake? 

 

Ban-chan’s heart started to beat, slow and steady.  Ginji could feel it under his hand, because that’s how he’d tried to feel it before.  Slow and steady, just like Ban-chan’s breathing.

 

He shouldn’t have moved before his heart started beating.

 

Ban-chan reached up and pushed at Ginji’s shoulder, moving abruptly away and standing up.

 

Something was terribly wrong.  Ban-chan didn’t move like that.  Then Ban-chan opened his eyes, and Ginji was positive.  He didn’t know what it meant---But that wasn’t Ban-chan.

 

The eyes weren’t blue.  They were brown.

 

Ginji stood up and felt his head settle some.  Not-Ban-chan glanced down at himself, made loose fists, then examined his palms.  Wiggled his fingers.  Not-Ban-chan grinned, an expression that made Ginji’s stomach twist. 

 

Then laughter.  Ban-chan never laughed like that, mean and self-satisfied.  A little cocky sometimes, but never mean. 

 

It wasn’t Ban-chan’s voice that came out, either, when he spoke.  It wasn’t even Japanese.

 

“Ban-chan . . . ?”  Ginji couldn’t help asking.

 

Not-Ban-chan looked up, with his brown eyes.  He didn’t show any sort of recognition, just contempt.  It hurt, even if it wasn’t-Ban-chan. 

 

Without bothering to answer, he got up and walked to where poor Vega had gotten smashed by the marble slab.  On the way, not-Ban-chan kicked the bad guy’s body, hard enough to make the body go sliding. 

 

Ginji’s hands formed fists and he needed to do something but he had no idea what.  Hurt and sadness and horror were all spinning around in his head and this was not Ban-chan.

 

The--imposter--snorted.  “This was the scorpion?”  This time it was in Japanese.  Without waiting for an answer, the imposter reached down, picked up the huge slab with just the strength of his right arm. 

 

He looked down at poor Vega’s body.

 

And then he stomped on it. 

 

A bone cracked under his heel, and the imposter looked happy, satisfied, like he’d been waiting for a chance to do that.

 

“Stop it!”  Ginji ran to not-Ban-chan, not knowing what he was going to do.  But he had to stop this.

 

“Why?  Who are you people, anyway?”  The imposter had side-stepped before Ginji could reach him, dropping the slab again on Vega’s body.

 

“Who are you?!”  Ginji could feel the electricity in the lights on the ceiling.  He could feel the wires in the building. 

 

“Asclepius,” the imposter smiled.  Asclepius!  “Was the cursed one a friend of yours?  My condolences.  Curses have consequences.”

 

Ginji made a fist, and felt the electricity in the building.  He saw a thread whiz by and try to snare the imposter, but Asclepius was already moving.  Before Ginji could turn, he heard a thump. 

 

Kazuki had gotten thrown against the wall.  The wall was about seven meters away. 

 

“You try to attack me with strings?  Are you an idiot?  And you, do you think growling is do any good?”  Asclepius laughed.

 

It was taunting, but Shido probably didn’t care.  He was already leaping at Asclepius.

 

Before Ginji could make it there---to do what, he wasn’t sure yet---Shido had gotten knocked back as well. 

 

This time Ginji saw it, and Asclepius hadn’t even had to use his body for leverage.  Just his arm.

 

“Come on, aren’t you going to attack me as well?”  Asclepius smirked.  His smirk was different than Ban-chan’s, too.  It made Ginji feel cold and quiet inside.

 

Ginji didn’t say anything.  He frowned, and concentrated. 

 

More electricity, feeling it.  The lights flickered. 

 

“Oh?  Was that you?”  The imposter looked vaguely interested.  When Ginji just stared at him, he sighed.  Then he attacked.  A blur.

 

Ginji tried to grab on when the punch landed in his gut, and he let out a strong jolt of electricity.  He went flying anyway, knocked back into the wall opposite where Shido and Kazuki were thrown.

 

Asclepius started to laugh.  “A new body, the scorpion, and now this?”

 

Then Ginji remembered: Asclepius was killed by a lightning bolt.

 

Ban-chan wouldn’t want someone else in his body, moving it around and hurting people.  Ban-chan would want his body back.  But that might not be possible.

 

So Ginji held his hand out and sent a bolt right at Asclepius.

 

Asclepius dodged, and came at Ginji, grabbing Ginji’s outstretched arm right after the bolt had left it.  Ginji knew he wouldn’t be able to get his arm back, it was a tight hold.  And getting tighter.

 

Ban-chan wouldn’t want things to be like this.

 

Ginji closed his eyes, hoped, and sent all the electricity he could into Asclepius in one hard charge.  It made its own thunderclap and scorched the floor.  Ozone smell.

 

The two of them collapsed to the floor.  Ban-chan’s body was still again.

 

Asclepius was gone.

 

And Ban-chan was still dead.

 

Ginji waited. 

 

Nothing happened.  Ginji started to feel for a pulse again, maybe--

 

Ban-chan took a breath.  He coughed just like Ban-chan normally coughed, although it sounded a little strained.  Then he opened his eyes.  Blue.  Tired.  But definitely Ban-chan.

 

Ginji hugged him.  “Ban-chan!”

 

“Yeah?”  Ban-chan sounded like he was trying to figure out what happened.  “You okay?”

 

“Yes!  And so are you!”  He squeezed Ban-chan carefully.  “Mostly!  Well, you’re going to be!  I was scared.”

 

By this time, Ban-chan was actually hugging back.  “What happened?  Thought I fell over there . . . ” Ban-chan paused.  “Hey!  What the hell are you looking at, Monkey Trainer?”

 

Ginji looked up to see Shido snort, roll his eyes, and look at the opposite wall.

 

“Can we go now?  I’ll tell you what happened when we’re not here anymore.” Ginji wanted to leave. 

 

Ban-chan sounded tired.  He probably was.  “Yeah, let’s get the hell out of here.”

 

The two of them had to lean each other on the way down the stairs, but they made it.  And that was the important thing.


	8. Chapter 8

**Epilogue**

Ban picked at the bandages on his hands--burns from where his skin had come in contact with Ginji’s.  He frowned a little; the damn things itched and he couldn’t scratch them.  Beside him, Ginji was eating pocky.  It was a little melted and left over from their drive up the coast, but Ginji seemed to be enjoying it anyway. 

 

Except when he poked Ban in the arm.  “Youuu shouldn’t mess with your bandages, Ban-chaaaan.”

 

“They itch.”  Weak argument.  But Ban dropped his hands to his lap. 

 

Ginji offered him a stick of pocky to make up for it, and Ban leaned over and took it in his mouth directly from Ginji’s hand.  He settled back and chewed on it, thinking.  After a moment, he reached down and turned the radio on.  News station.

 

“--The Yen is down two points, but the Euro is still going strong.  In other business news, Okuyama Ryunosuke, founder and CEO of Okuyama Industries, died in his home early yesterday morning.  He was eighty.  In Seoul today--“

 

Ban flipped the radio off.

 

“Hey, Ban-chan.  Do you think that Okuyama person was the bad guy?”  Ginji had put three sticks of pocky in his mouth at once, and somehow kept any of them from slipping out.  Ban swallowed his own pocky and looked away from Ginji, out the windshield.

 

“I wouldn’t bet against it.  Rich Japanese guy dead at eighty?  Yesterday?  Yeah.”  Ban snorted, rolled down the window.  He lit a cigarette, and dangled it outside when it wasn’t in his mouth.  The car had still been foggy when they’d gotten back down to it.  He hadn’t been able to drive.  Monkey Trainer had driven _his_ car to where the hell ever Kazuki was staying, and Juubei had been there.  And hey, free medical care was free medical care, so Ban got his hands bandaged and acupuncture points punctured.

 

Then Monkey Trainer had driven himself home.  With Ban and Ginji in the backseat and Ginji clinging like some kind of six-armed kitten to Ban, not that Ban had minded, not really.  It wasn’t everyday that someone died twice and was possessed by the bitter spirit of a dead Greek physician. 

 

That night, they’d even had a place to sleep.  Madoka had seen--well, so she hadn’t _seen_ , but she still _knew_ \--what condition they were in, and told them they could sleep in the guest room.  Which wasn’t bad.  They even got to take a shower and eat breakfast (Monkey Trainer cooked, who would have guessed?) before they left.

 

Not a bad way to recover, really.  He’d recovered from worse in the backseat of the 360. 

 

Ban finished the cigarette and ground the butt in the ashtray.  He settled back in his seat.  A moment later, Ginji put his hand on the back of Ban’s, carefully.  Ban thought that if their situations were reversed--if Ginji had died and come back, instead of Ban--well, he was pretty damn attached to Ginji.  Nearly dying had a way of reinforcing some kind of internal honesty. 

 

A moment later, Ginji broke the comfortable silence.  “Ban-chan, can we put the roof down?”

 

“Sure.” Ban did that, and rolled up his own window.  The stars were only visible on the edges of Tokyo if one looked straight up.  Ban did that, eyes searching for familiar figures in the sky. 

 

Ginji squeezed his fingers over Ban’s hand.

 

“Ban-chan?”

 

“Hn?”

 

“Who’s that?”  Ginji was pointing up, at the stars.

 

“Scorpio.  By Orion’s foot.”  They could hardly see the stars for all the light pollution.    
  
 

Ginji made a little sympathetic noise.  Ban was always amazed at Ginji’s capacity to forgive and care for people, even people like Vega.  He turned his hand over underneath Ginji’s. 

 

“Let’s go back to the beach sometime, okay, Ban-chan?  And you can tell me the stories again.”

 

“You wanna go back after everything that happened?”

 

“Uh-huh.  I liked sitting there with you.  The fireflies were really pretty, too.”

 

Ban sniffed a little.  “Who knows when we’ll have the money for it.” 

 

But he wasn’t saying no, and Ginji knew it. 


End file.
